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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/ferdinandmagellaOOober 



HEROES OF 
AMERICAN HISTORY 



MAGELLAN 




FERDINAND MAGELLAN 






FERDINAND MAGELLAN 



BY 

FREDERICK A. OBER 



HEROES OF AMERICAN HISTORY 



ILLUSTRATED 




W 



HARPER &■ BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 

1907 






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ri3RARYofCONQiiss| » f^\^ ^ 

two CoDies Received 

APR. n 1907 

l^T-CoByripht Entry 



Copyright, 1907, by Harper & Brothers. 



^// rights reserved. 
Published April, 1907. 



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CONTENTS 



CHAP. PAGE 

I. The Young Mountaineer .... i 

II. In the East Indies 15 

III. His Heroic Exploits 29 

IV. Malacca, Morocco, and Home ... 46 

V. Magellan Expatriated 60 

VI. A King Convinced 76 

VII. A King Incensed 91 

VIII. The Beginning of the Voyage . , 108 

IX. Murder and Mutiny 130 

X. Patagonia and the Giants . . . , 148 

XI. The Long-Sought Strait 164 

XII. First Transpacific Voyage .... 184 
XIII> Discovery of the Philippines . . 197 

XIV. "Converting" the Natives . . . , 215 

XV. Death of Magellan . . . . . . , 231 

XVI. Treachery and Massacre 245 

XVII. The Spiceries at Last 262 

XVIII. Voyage of the V-lctoria 279 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN . . . . . . Frontispiece 

THE TOWER OF BELEM Facing p. l8 -^ 

THE SHIPS OF MAGELLAN " Il6 / 

A DESCENDANT OF THE PATAGONIAN GIANTS " l6o . 

MAP OF THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN . . . " 170 ■ 
MONUMENT TO MAGELLAN ON THE SPOT 

WHERE HE WAS KILLED ..... " 242 

NATIVES OF LUZON " 256 

THE VICTORIA, THE FIRST VESSEL TO AC- 
COMPLISH THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF 

THE GLOBE " 280 



SOURCES OF INFORMATION 

The authoritative sources of information on Magel- 
lan may be divided into primary and secondary, the 
first class including the journals of those who knew 
him and took part in his great expedition, as the 
"Unknown Portuguese," of Ramusio; Francisco Albo, 
whose "log-book" (trustworthy, though fragmentary) 
is contained in Navarrete's famous Coleccion ; the 
"Genoese Pilot" — who wrote excellent Portuguese, 
by-the-way; and Antonio Pigafetta, whose account of 
the voyage, the best and most complete, was first 
written in Italian. 

The second class comprises: Maximilian Transyl- 
vanus, and Peter Martyr, both contemporaries, who 
conversed with the Magellan survivors in Seville; 
Oviedo, who was then in Darien; Correa, author of 
Lendas da India ; Herrera, Spanish historiographer, 
and others. 

Though Pigafetta obtained permission to print as 
early as 1524, it is not known that he availed himself 
of the privilege before 1536, the date of the "first 
Italian edition." The first English translation of his 
work is contained in Richard Eden's Decades of the 
Newe World, London, 1555, and follows Martyr, Ra- 
musio, and Transylvanus. 

An excellent translation was published by the 
Hakluyt Society (Lord Stanley of Alderley's) in 1874; 
but by far the best, as well as most recent, is that by 
J. A. Robertson, from, and with, the original text — a 
limited edition, the A. H. Clark Company, Cleveland, 
Ohio, 1906. A compact and comprehensive volume 
is the Life of Magellan (with all authorities cited), by 
F. H. H. Guillemard, London and New York, 1890. 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 



THE YOUNG MOUNTAINEER 
I480-1504 

^TN an obscure corner of Traz-os-Montes, the 
1 northeastern province of Portugal, we find 
the picturesque hamlet of Saborosa, where, 
about the year 1480, Ferdinand Magellan was 
born. Few portions of the Iberian Peninsula 
are more wild and rugged than this region: 
for rivers, hills and mountains are its salient 
features, its forests are vast, its scenery mag- 
nificent, though gloomy in the extreme. 

The climate of Traz-os-Montes is prover- 
bially bad, its roads are almost impassable; 
thus few strangers are attracted thither, and 
hence the people resident there are quite as 
isolated as though surrounded by the sea. 
A sea of mountains, in truth, separates them 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

from their compatriots of the coast; but its 
waves are rigid, immovable, and of their 
qualities the ignorant mountaineers seem to 
partake. Indeed, one may visit Saborosa 
to-day and find there men and women un- 
changed from their ancestors of Magellan's 
time, four hundred years ago. 

Ferdinand Magellan was born a moun- 
taineer, and though he became a sailor (and 
through having become a sailor achieved 
the voyage which made his name immortal) 
he carried with him to sea the characteris- 
tics of one reared amid rugged surroundings. 
His views were elevated, his confidence in 
himself was supreme, his integrity unim- 
peachable ; yet was he bound by obstinacy as 
by hoops of steel. His courage was daunt- 
less, his perseverance knew no limits, and 
his belief in a fortunate star amounted to a 
superstition. 

At the time of Ferdinand's birth and 
youth, his father ruled as the little lord of 
Saborosa, and was called a fidalgo, or noble- 
man. He was wont to boast that his fam- 
ily belonged to ''the oldest in the king- 
dom," and many a time cautioned his son 
never to forget that he was a Magellan. 
Ferdinand did not forget, and no deed of his 



THE YOUNG MOUNTAINEER 

besmirched the family escutcheon, which, in 
the language of heraldry, was *'0n a field 
argent three bars cheeky, gules and argent; 
the crest an eagle, wings displayed." 

The *' eagle," it is true, looked more like 
a cormorant than any other bird; but there 
was no mistaking the ''three bars cheeky" 
on a silver shield, which signified that some 
distant progenitor had signally achieved 
something, probably in conflict with the 
Moors. There was also the legend '' Magal- 
hdes'' below the shield, which was the family 
name, in Portuguese, inscribed as Ferdinand 
himself was wont to write it in his auto- 
graph. Respecting the different spellings 
of his name, it may be as well to make 
mention of them now, in this connection, 
since there are several, depending upon 
which language is adopted — whether Portu- 
guese, Spanish, or English. 

In the vernacular of our hero, his name 
was written Fernao de Magalhaes; in Span- 
ish, Fernando de Magallanes, which we have 
anglicized into Ferdinand Magellan. The 
first name was bestowed upon him at his 
christening, the second when he made Spain 
his adoptive country, and the third after 
his deeds became world - famous and the 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

chronicle of them was translated into Eng- 
lish. Those familiar with him, doubtless, 
addressed the young man as Fernan, or 
Hernan, these being abbreviated forms of 
Fernando and Hernando, which have the 
same meaning in Spanish and Portuguese. "^ 

Fernan Magellan, then (assuming our- 
selves to be on a familiar footing with him), 
was the son of Pedro (or Peter) de Magalhaes, 
an hidalgo of repute in Traz-os-Montes, who 
was possessed of some wealth and owned a 
castle, together with vast estates consisting 
mainly of wild and mountainous lands cov- 
ered with forests. In these forests roamed 
wild boars and deer, which Fernan, when 
arrived at a suitable age, greatly delighted 
to hunt. The shaggy crests of the moun- 
tains were also the haunts, tradition relates, 
of nomadic brigands, who would have de- 
sired no better fortune than to capture the 
son of a nobleman like Peter Magellan and 
hold him for ransom. If they had designs, 
however, upon Ferdinand, they were des- 
tined to be disappointed, for he was a reck- 
less rider of the native horses for which the 
region is celebrated, and though he had 
many mad adventures, a capture by brigands 
was not one of them. 



THE YOUNG MOUNTAINEER 

All the streams of Traz-os-Montes — and 
there were many of them, little and big, 
mountain-born and fed by springs of crystal 
clearness — ran, sooner or later, to the sea, 
in confluence with the Douro, near the 
mouth of which sat the rich old city of 
Oporto. From the beautiful vale in which 
Saborosa is situated, a swift-moving stream 
plunges directly into the Douro, and along 
the banks of both run roads which lead 
from the mountains to Oporto. This city, 
celebrated for the delicious wine which 
bears its name, is scarcely more than fifty 
miles, "as the crow flies," from Saborosa, 
and was early favored with visits from 
young Fernan, who found there a fine old 
aristocracy much to his liking. 

His father may have passed a portion of 
each year in Oporto, together with his 
family, then consisting of Fernan, a younger 
son whose name is not known, and two 
daughters, Isabel and Tereza. It was nec- 
essary, to break the monotony of life in 
that isolated community of Saborosa, to 
seek, occasionally, the social pleasures of 
Oporto, where the hidalgos of the country 
were wont to meet and indulge in stately 
recreations. Here, doubtless, Fernan ac- 
5 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

quired his liking for the sea, as the harbor 
of Oporto was crowded with shipping, and 
many a seafarer came here, with tales of 
adventure which the youth may have lis- 
tened to, sitting on the quays, or on the 
decks of vessels just in from foreign ports. 

At the time Fernan Magellan was grow- 
ing to manhood all those great voyages 
took place which have since become fixed 
as important events in the annals of the 
world. He was twelve years of age when 
Columbus sailed from Pales; seventeen 
when his famous countryman, Vasco da 
Gama, doubled the end of Africa and found 
a new way to India; and twenty when 
Cabral, though by mistake, revealed the 
coast of the country since known as Brazil. 
Later in life he met and conversed with the 
navigators and soldiers who advanced the 
arms of Portugal in the Far East, and it 
is believed that he early sought acquaint- 
ance with such as were accessible in or 
near Oporto. 

If the early period of Magellan's life had 
received a tithe of the attention bestowed 
upon his latter years, we might present a 
more nearly adequate account of his life 
at Saborosa, brief as it was; but, truth to 
6 



THE YOUNG MOUNTAINEER 

tell, the material for it is scanty in the 
extreme, for next to nothing is known of 
his youth. Much has been imagined, many 
half-truths have been expanded into state- 
ments of facts; but in the foregoing para- 
graphs are embodied all that has been as- 
certained to be authentic. 

He was an active youth, delighting in 
aaventure; athletic, though slight of frame, 
and given to out-door exercises rather than 
to in-door studies. In fact, it is not known 
that he ever received systematic training 
under the eye of a tutor, for his father 
probably shared the belief, then generally 
prevalent, that the sons of hidalgos needed 
no education, save that which fitted them 
for attendance at court and the profession 
of arms. It was the custom for noblemen 
to send their sons to court, dedicated to 
the service of their sovereign, to whom they 
looked for direction in their studies, and 
from whom they expected to receive their 
rewards if successful. 

Just when Fernan Magellan left his moun- 
tain home for Lisbon, where he took his 
first lessons as a courtier, is not known, 
but it was probably before he was fifteen 
years of age. This is inferred from the fact 
7 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

that (according to Bartolomeo Argensola, 
author of the Conquest of the Moluccas) he 
first entered the service of Queen Leonor 
as a page. Queen Leonor was the widow 
of King Joao (or John), surnamed "the 
Perfect," whose reign began in 1481, and 
during which (in 1 486-1 487) that brave 
navigator, Bartholomew Dias, discovered and 
doubled the Cape of Good Hope. 

Six years before the sailing of Columbus, 
Dias turned his prow into the waters of the 
Indian Ocean, and, returning to Portugal, 
told his king what he had discovered. 
Owing to the terrific gales and seas he had 
encountered in rounding the Cape, he named 
it Cabo de Todos los Tormentos (or, the Cape 
of all the Storms) ; but King John the 
Perfect demurred to this. He had not 
experienced the storms, and had no vivid 
remembrance of tempestuous seas and baf- 
fling winds, as Dias had. He looked upon 
the discovery from a more lofty, world- 
embracing view -point, and he said, ''Nay, 
gallant Bartholomew, the Cape of Storms it 
shall not be, but the Cape of Good Hope 
(el Cabo de Buena Esperanza)V' 

The hopes of King John were not realized 
by him, as he delayed sending Dias back 
8 



THE YOUNG MOUNTAINEER 

again to pursue his discovery to its sequence, 
and pass through the portal he had opened 
to India. Ten years were allowed to elapse 
before a great Indian expedition was fitted 
out, and John the Perfect had been dead 
two years when Vasco da Gama made his 
renowned and wonderful voyage from Lis- 
bon to Calicut. 

King John II. was succeeded by Emanuel, 
or Manoel, first of his name on the Portu- 
guese throne, who was surnamed ''the Great " 
and ''the Fortunate" — not so much on ac- 
count of what he had achieved as what oth- 
ers had done for him. during many years 
preceding his accession, the several sover- 
eigns who had occupied the throne had 
labored for the advancement of Portugal's 
arms and influence along the coast of Africa. 
Prince Henry the Navigator had indicated 
the direction Portuguese ships should take, 
and the darkness was dispelled that for 
centuries had enshrouded Africa's shores. 
Each successor had contributed his mite, 
and during the reign of Joao the Perfect 
the last vestige of mystery had been stripped 
from the Atlantic coast of Africa by Dias, 
and a route to India indicated along its 

eastern shores, i 

^ 9 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

King Emanuel, fortunately, was wise 
enough to grasp what King John had let 
fall when his hand was palsied by death. 
He had also the sagacity to continue the 
voyages which for several years had been 
intermitted, but for which great prepara- 
tions had been made. His reign has been 
called, and perhaps rightly, Portugal's ''gold- 
en age"; but he merely harvested what his 
royal forerunners had sown. The golden 
grains dropped by their navigators and 
colonists in the sea-sands off Senegal, the 
Gulf of Guinea, and the Kongo, yielded 
their increase to Dom Manoel. On the 
death of John H. he fell heir to all that 
had been accomplished, accumulated, by him 
and by others, and thus it came to pass that 
in his reign there sailed such expeditions as 
Vasco da Gama's to India; Cabral's, which 
resulted in the discovery of Brazil; Corte- 
real's to the coast of Labrador, and Al- 
meida's to the Indian Seas. 

It was in 1495 that Manoel succeeded 
John II. as King of Portugal, and shortly 
after received into his service the youthful 
page, Fernan Magellan, who was warmly 
welcomed as the son of a faithful hidalgo, 
who kept in order the wild and stubborn 
10 



THE YOUNG MOUNTAINEER 

people of Traz - OS - Montes. It was at the 
court of Dom Manoel that Magellan passed 
what may be called the formative period 
of his life, in which he was really educated. 
That he received an education, in the sense 
of being instructed in schools, there is no 
record to show; but his mind was always 
open and receptive. The vicinage of king's 
courts is not generally considered favorable 
to the acquisition of learning; but to be at 
Dom Manoel's court, in the closing decade 
of that most wonderful century in the his- 
tory of Portugal and Spain, was in itself an 
education to a youth like Magellan. _ 

. He had only to open his eyes and observe 
what was going on about him to be placed, 
as it were, in touch with the farthest ends 
of the earth. For he was in Lisbon when 
Gama sailed forth to discover, if possible, 
an ocean route to India around the Cape 
of Good Hope and through the Indian 
Ocean; and he was there, also, still a 
hanger-on at court, when the triumphant 
navigator returned with success inscribed 
upon his banners. 

He heard the salvos of artillery that wel- 
comed the veteran home, he listened to the 
praises that were showered upon him by 
II 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

the king and the nobiHty, and witnessed the 
enthusiasm of the populace over the great- 
est event since the return of Christopher Co- 
lumbus from his voyage to America. More 
than all this — more than forming merely a 
unit in the unrecognized masses that wel- 
comed back Da Gama — he became acquaint- 
ed with the navigator, and is said to have 
visited him at his house in Lisbon. There, 
no doubt, he received from his own lips the 
story of wonderful adventure: adown the 
West- African coast, around the Cape, along 
the east coast nearly to the equator, and 
then the bold dash across the Indian Ocean 
to Calicut. 

Vasco da Gama had set out for his Indian 
voyage in July, 1497, ^^^ returned in Sep- 
tember, 1499. Three years later he sailed 
again; but, meanwhile, Dom Manoel the 
Fortunate had despatched Cabral, with 
thirteen ships, to follow up the first ad- 
venture and take possession of ports which 
Gama had merely reported to exist but 
could not hold. Cabral bore farther west- 
ward than Gama, and hence, unwittingly, 
discovered the unknown coast of Brazil; 
but he lost nearly half his ships, and among 
the brave men who went down with one of 
12 



THE YOUNG MOUNTAINEER 

them (of which he was commander) was 
Bartholomew Dias, who first of all led the 
way around the Cape of Storms. 

Thus, while Fernan Magellan was spend- 
ing the days of his youth as a courtier, 
probably in idleness by day and in dissipa- 
tion by night, these great events happened 
of which he was a witness. Vasco da Gam a 
sailed for India twice and returned, before 
the courtier, Magellan, felt deeply enough 
the inspiration towards adventure to him- 
self set out for the Orient. How he could 
have remained so long in idleness, or at 
least inactive, while such great things were 
happening, and he in the midst of them, 
seems inexplicable. 

' While expedition after expedition was 
being fitted out and despatched for the far 
ends of the earth — to Labrador and Brazil, 
Africa and India — Fernan Magellan stayed in 
Lisbon an idle observer. *'0f their coming 
and going, of their many victories and rare 
defeats, of their successful venture or dis- 
astrous loss, how much he must have heard! 
The whole country was seething with ex- 
citement. The new worlds, alike of the 
East and of the West, held out a brilliant 
picture of infinite possibilities to the hum- 
13 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

blest in rank. The dock -yards rang with 
the sound of axe and hammer, and the ships 
were barely launched ere they sailed for the 
lands that were to bring riches and distinc- 
tion to every one — to every one, at least, 
who lived! Men left their country in shoals, 
careless of danger, heedless of death-rates, 
mindful only of the possible glory that 
awaited them. We can imagine the effect 
that experiences such as these must have 
had upon one so adventurous as Magellan. 
At such a time, when all around him were 
up and doing, it was impossible that he 
should remain a mere spectator." 



II 

IN THE EAST INDIES 
1505 

AROUSED at last, after long years of 
i\ lethargy, Magellan applied for permis- 
sion to absent himself from court and join 
an expedition then in preparation for the 
East Indies. In the latter part of the year 
1504, after making a hasty and final visit 
to Saborosa, and taking an affectionate fare- 
well of his father and family, he enlisted as 
a volimteer in the armada then being fitted 
out for Dom Francisco d 'Almeida, who was 
to sail as India's first viceroy. While the 
gallant Da Gama had been ennobled and 
showered with honors for his great achieve- 
ment, still he was not considered by Dom 
Manoel as the proper person to represent 
him in authority, as vice-king with unlimiit- 
ed sway, in the new settlements to be estab- 
lished in India. 

Though a son of the Portuguese Duke of 
15 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

Abrantes, Dom Francisco d 'Almeida had 
been a soldier in the Moorish wars of Spain, 
where he had acquired immense prestige, 
aside from that which came to him as the 
scion of a distinguished family. He pos- 
sessed great talent as an organizer, and his 
fame was such that when it was announced 
that he was to command the expedition, the 
noblest of Portugal's citizenry swarmed to 
sail beneath his banner. Of all the fleets 
that had left Lisbon for Africa and the 
East, none was so large, so well equipped, 
armed, and manned as this, the last, com- 
manded by Almeida. There were twenty 
vessels in all, comprising eight great car- 
acks, called naos, six caravels, and six of 
intermediate size, which carried, also, ma- 
terial for the construction of two galleys 
and a brigantine, to be put together at 
some port in India. They contained two 
thousand men, fifteen hundred of whom 
were soldiers, four hundred seamen, and the 
remainder artisans, merchants, and schem- 
ing adventurers. 

After a winter of feverishly active labor, 
the great fleet was finally pronounced ready 
for sea. It would seem that all the arti- 
sans of Portugal had been employed in 
i6 



IN THE EAST INDIES 

hastening and perfecting its equipment, and 
the great naos, as well as the caravels and 
brigantines, were stored to overflowing with 
everything necessary for the voyage, as well 
as for the founding of the projected settle- 
ments. Assembled from every nook and 
corner of Portugal, and including wealthy 
fidalgos as well as impecunious fortune-seek- 
ers, sailors, soldiers, mechanics, professional 
men, the motley crowd that swarmed aboard 
the ships became the envy of Lisbon's pop- 
ulace. 

Before taking to the sea, however, they 
marched in procession to the venerable 
cathedral, there solemnly to celebrate their 
departure and witness the blessing of the 
banner presented to Almeida by the king. 
It was a square of white damask, with a 
cross in crimson satin edged with gold. 
Standing in front of the high altar, Dom 
Manoel held the banner suspended above 
the bowed head of his deputy, while the 
royal herald proclaimed him governor and 
viceroy of the Indies, "for our lord the 
king." 

Fernan Magellan was present at this cere- 
monial, standing near the viceroy and the 
king, and was deeply impressed with its 
17 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

solemnity as well as with the significance 
of his mission. He was going forth, he 
realized, not only to seek his fortune at the 
sword's point, but as a fighter for his king 
and for his faith. 

A few miles down the river stands the 
tower of Belem, with its church and mon- 
astery, erected in honor of the great seaman 
of Portugal. It was then but recently 
completed, for its corner-stone was laid 
only four years previously, in commemora- 
tion of Da Gama's great voyage and success- 
ful return. Within this magnificent struct- 
ure to-day rest the bones of the great 
navigator, those of the king by whose or- 
ders he sailed, and of the poet Camoens, who 
immortalized in verse his vast achievements. 
But at the time Almeida's fleet dropped 
anchor off Belem, in order that prayers for 
its success might be offered on the spot 
hallowed by association with Prince Henry 
the Navigator, who erected his chapel here, 
only seven years had passed since Vasco da 
Gama had himself knelt here and prayed 
for heavenly guidance. After the voyagers 
had performed their orisons. King Manoel 
came down from Lisbon with a great retinue, 
and, taking his stand on the viceroy's ship, 
i8 




THE TOWER OF BELEM 



IN THE EAST INDIES 

greeted the captains of the squadron as 
they swept past him on the tide towards 
the bar at the mouth of the river. And 
with his sovereign's wishes for a prosperous 
voyage in his ears, perhaps with the pressure 
of his fingers on his palm, Fernan Magellan 
went with the rest over the bar of Tagus 
and out upon the sea. 

Nothing had been omitted to make the 
departure impressive, yet it was not with- 
out its amusing incidents, which provoked 
some laughter and relieved the tense feelings 
of the sailors, if not of the cavaliers. One of 
these incidents w^as connected with the then 
recent introduction of the terms ''larboard" 
and ''starboard" (or their equivalents in 
Portuguese) into the nautical language of 
the navy. Great confusion ensued on weigh- 
ing anchor off Belem, and at a time when 
every sailor wished to do his best, in view 
of his sovereign's presence in person, some 
of the captains were put to shame. 

One of them, Joao Homem, becoming 
impatient at his sailors' confusing the terms 
"bombordo,'' or larboard, with '' estribordo,'' 
or starboard, cast his cap to the deck with 
an oath, exclaiming: "Pilot, you must 
speak to my men in a speech they can 
19 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

understand! Here, cook, bring me a bunch 
of garlic and a bunch of onions. There, see, 
I hang the garUc on this side the hekn, and 
these onions on the other. Now, when I say 
'garHc' I mean starboard, and when I say 
'onions' I mean larboard; which is a lan- 
guage any fool can understand!" Onions 
and garlic are said to have saved the situa- 
tion, by making the sea-terms apparent to 
the most stupid of sailors, through their 
senses of hearing and smelling, as well as 
of seeing; and as there were vast stores of 
both aboard the fleet, all the captains 
quickly followed the example of clever 
Joao Homem. 

Portuguese sailors were no longer com- 
pelled to crawl slowly and timorously from 
cape to cape, as in Prince Henry's time, so 
the fleet proceeded directly southward. The 
Tagus had been left on March 25th, and four 
days over a month later, or on April 29th, 
the equator was crossed. Sailing on forty 
degrees to the southward, Almeida then reck- 
oned upon having passed the meridian of 
the Cape of Storms, or Good Hope, and on 
June 20th bore northeasterly and entered 
the Indian Ocean, with the loss of two ships. 

On July 2 2d, or four months after the 
20 



IN THE EAST INDIES 

departure from Portugal, the monotony of 
the long weeks of sea-sailing was relieved 
by an engagement with the Arabs of Quiloa, 
a port to the southward of Zanzibar. Fol- 
lowing the instructions of the king, which 
were peremptory, as well as comprehensive, 
Almeida was to construct a fort at Quiloa, 
and also to build there the brigantines, ma- 
terial for which he had brought with him. 
But the residents here, who may have 
descended from the founders of the place, 
which was first settled by Arabs in the 
tenth century, strenuously objected. They 
wanted neither the fort nor the presence 
in their harbor of the Portuguese fleet, and 
Dom Francisco found himself compelled to 
storm the city. He landed a party of 
soldiers, and while they advanced upon the 
forts amused the Arabs with cannon-play 
from the ships so successfully that the out- 
works were soon carried, and within a short 
time the city itself fell into his hands. At 
this assault, it is said, Fernan Magellan 
first drew sword in battle with an enemy; 
but he bore himself so creditably as to be 
complimented by his superior officer, and 
henceforth was regarded as a veteran fighter^ 
We do not know the position Magellan 

21 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

occupied aboard the fleet, nor the name of 
the ship he sailed in; but he was probably 
one of the sohresalientes — or supernumeraries, 
as the Spaniards described the free-lances 
that sailed on these voyages without stated 
occupations — being in search of adventure, 
merely, without a thought as to what sort 
it should be. He had borne the discomforts 
of the voyage with equanimity, but when 
this opportunity offered for a dash on land, 
had accepted it most eagerly. 

What position he held we know not, nor is 
there aught to enable one to determine the 
manner of man he was at twenty-five, which 
was his age when he set sail with Almeida. 
We may, however, glimpse his character and 
gain an impression of his affairs by inspecting 
the will and testament he executed, previous 
to setting forth on what he had good reason 
to consider a hazardous undertaking. It is 
dated at Belem, December 17, 1504, but was 
not brought to light until three hundred and 
fifty years later, when it was discovered by a 
descendant of his family. 

"I desire," he states, in the first clause of 

this instrument, "if I die abroad, or in this 

armada in which I am about to proceed for 

India in the service of my sovereign, the 

22 



IN THE EAST INDIES 

most high and mighty king, Dom Manoel 
(whom may God preserve), that my funeral 
may be that accorded to an ordinary sea- 
man, giving to the chaplain of the ship my 
clothes and arms, to say three requiem 
masses. 

"I appoint as my sole heirs my sister. 
Dona Teresa de Magalhaes, her husband, 
Joao da Silva, their successors and heirs, 
with the understanding that the aforesaid 
my brother-in-law shall quarter his arms 
with those of the family of Magalhaes, 
which are those of my ancestors, and among 
the most distinguished and oldest in the 
kingdom; founding, as I hereby found, a 
bequest of twelve masses yearly, to be said 
at the altar of the Lord Jesus in the church 
of San Salvador in Saborosa, in connection 
with my property, the quinta [country-seat] 
de Souta, in the aforesaid parish of Sabo- 
rosa; that it may be a legacy in perpetuo, 
and that it may remain forever as a memo- 
rial of our family, which it will be the duty 
of our successors to re-establish, should it, 
through chance or misfortune, fall into 
desuetude, without increase or diminution 
in the number of masses, or other alteration. 

''And everything that I thus ordain I 
23 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

desire may be carried out justly, and re- 
main without alteration, henceforth and 
forever, should I die without legitimate 
offspring; but should I have such, I desire 
that he or she may succeed to all my estate, 
together with the same obligation of the 
entailed bequest, that it may remain estab- 
lished as such, and not in any other form; 
in order that the barony may increase, and 
that it may not be deprived of the little 
property I own, the which I cannot better, 
or in any other manner, bequeath." 

The provisions of this will were never 
complied with, owing to Magellan's change 
of residence from Portugal to Spain; and 
in another, executM later, the little quinta 
and church of Saborosa are not mentioned. 
But the instrament shows the serious trend 
of the young man's thoughts, his love for 
home, and his desire to transmit to posterity 
an honorable name. There is nothing in his 
East - Indian record to belie this intention ; 
and that he w^as studiously inclined, at least 
during the long voyage outward to the 
East, is shown by the fact that, thrown as 
he w^as in company with Da Gama's veter- 
an sailors, he became an expert navigator. 

Leaving a garrison in the fort which the 
24 



IN THE EAST INDIES 

Portuguese had hastily constructed at Quiloa, 
Dom Francisco sailed next for the port of 
Mombaza, where again opposition was en- 
countered which gave him an excuse for 
bombarding the city, one of the largest and 
most important trading-posts on the east 
coast of Africa. He was surprised by an 
answering cannon-fire to the roar of his 
artillery, for he had supposed the natives 
destitute of guns of large caliber. After 
the city was taken — as taken it was, follow- 
ing a two days' siege and storm — an ex- 
planation was found in the fact that these 
were once Vasco Da Gama's cannon which 
had been turned upon the invaders. He 
had lost them overboard during an attack 
from the harbor a few years before, and 
after his departure the natives had fished 
them up, somehow obtained ammunition, 
and loaded them for use against Da Gama's 
countrymen. These cannon aided materi- 
ally in the resistance offered by the Mom- 
bazas; but the Portuguese were at that 
time invincible, having supreme confidence 
in themselves, and being armed in a superior 
manner ; so the native army, though said to 
number ten thousand men, was put to ig- 
nominious flight. 

25 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

Another fort was erected, though the 
King of Mombaza professed the most ardent 
friendship for the Portuguese, after the 
chastising they had given him, and pre- 
sented Dom Francisco with a sword and 
collar of pearls, together valued at more 
than fifteen thousand dollars. Thirty thou- 
sand crusados was the value placed upon the 
gifts by Dom Francisco's treasurer, and 
probably at that time this was equal to as 
many dollars of our money. To make it 
seem yet more magnificent, it may be stated 
that this would be equivalent to more than 
a million rets; or, again, to swell it to its 
greatest proportions, let us say a billion 
milreis — a very magnificent gift, indeed! 

A marble column was set up at Mombaza 
in commemoration of the conquest, and, 
the king having agreed to pay a yearly 
tribute of ten thousand serafins, Almeida 
sailed away with his fleet. It had been his 
intention to proceed yet farther northward, 
to the port of Melinda, where Da Gama had 
found his pilot for the voyage across the 
Indian Ocean. This pilot was an Arab, and 
without him the voyage might never have 
been accomplished. But the Portuguese 
now had pilots of their own, and it was not 
26 



IN THE EAST INDIES 

necessary to seek one at Melinda; hence, 
Almeida pushed straight out towards the 
Malabar coast, where the fleetest ships of 
the squadron arrived the last week of Oc- 
tober. 

Thus, after a voyage of seven months' 
duration, and mainly following in the track 
of Vasco da Gama, who had led the way 
less than eight years previously, Fernan 
Magellan arrived in the Indies. He had, so 
far as opportunity offered, given a good 
account of himself on the way, having been 
foremost in the fights that had occurred, 
and won a reputation as an expert swords- 
man as well as a gallant soldier. By his 
alertness, and willingness to perform what- 
ever came in his way, he had acquired great 
favor with the energetic viceroy, who the 
very next morning after his arrival at the 
island of Anchediva, in the Indian Ocean, be- 
gan the construction of a fortress. Then he 
despatched some ships of his squadron in 
search of three Arabian galleons laden with 
spices for Mecca, which he desired to inter- 
cept with their precious cargoes, and while 
they were absent laid the keels of a car- 
avel and two brigantines. There was no 
rest for soldier or sailor under such an active 
27 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

commander as Dom Francisco, whose ex- 
ample was not lost upon Fernan Magellan; 
while his son, Dom Lourenzo, displayed such 
brilliant prowess that he became renowned 
throughout the East. 



Ill 

HIS HEROIC EXPLOITS 
1505-1512 

FERNAN MAGELLAN'S career really be- 
gan off the Malabar coast, or what is 
now the southern part of British India 
bordering on the Arabian Sea. The cities 
of that coast offered rich prizes for the 
Portuguese, some of which they acquired by 
treaty, some they seized. Though friendly 
at first sight of these strangers coming into 
their seas (the trade of which had long been 
in control of the Arabs, who had hitherto 
supplied Europe and the West with the rich 
products of India), the natives soon changed 
front and became openly hostile. 

Dom Francisco and his fleet, however, 
were too strong for them to resist successful- 
ly, and at the first great port he was deputed 
to govern, that cf Cananor (now known as 
Kananur, and possessed by the British since 
1 791), he was received with open arms by the 
29 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

people. Amid salvos of artillery, and with 
flags and standards flying, the armada en- 
tered the harbor. Troops were landed, visits 
of ceremony exchanged between Almeida 
and the native governor, and an embassy 
received from the great King of Narsinga. 
At Cananor, immediately after landing, Al- 
meida assumed the rank and title of vice- 
roy, for he had now arrived at the land 
which the king had appointed him to gov- 
ern. He tarried here five days only, during 
which, with his customary energy, he hurried 
forward the construction of a fort, and after 
leaving a garrison of one hundred and fifty 
men, departed for Cochin. 

The Portuguese had been at Cochin about 
two years, having planted a settlement there 
in 1503, so Almeida felt sure of a welcome. 
Native royalty outdid itself, in truth, at 
the reception given the viceroy, for King 
Nambeadora came out of the city to receive 
him mounted upon an enormous elephant 
with trappings of gold, and attended by an 
immense retinue with trumpets and kettle- 
drums. An elephant was furnished the vice- 
roy, and together the two returned to the 
city, accompanied by an imposing caval- 
cade, and there the king was recrowned by 
30 



HIS HEROIC EXPLOITS 

Almeida, in the great square of his capital. 
At Cochin and at Cananor vast stores of 
pepper and spices had been accumulated 
against the coming of the Portuguese, and 
these were laden on board the ships of a 
squadron which sailed for Europe the first 
week in January, 1506, arriving at Lisbon 
the last week in May. This voyage was made 
eventful and noteworthy by the fact that 
on the way, about the middle of February, 
the island of Madagascar was discovered — 
or for the first time seen by Europeans — 
though it had long been known to the Moors 
as the "Island of the Moon." 

Everything had thus far gone smoothly 
with Dom Francisco, the first viceroy of 
India. He had shown himself to be the very 
man for the position; he had impressed the 
Arabs and the natives with his terrible 
prowess, and they were thrown into con- 
sternation. The former saw their commerce, 
which they and their predecessors had con- 
trolled for centuries, threatened with extinc- 
tion; the latter saw their liberties invaded, 
and territory taken away without prospect 
of recompense. So they plotted together, the 
Arabs and the powerful Zamorim of Calicut, 
and a cloud of war appeared upon the horizon. 

3 31 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

Calicut is situated on the Malabar coast 
about mid-way between Cananor and Co- 
chin. It was the first city of India visited 
by Gama, in 1498, and hence had known 
the Portuguese longer than any other. It 
is a well-known fact that the longer those 
people knew the Portuguese the less they 
liked them, for they were arrogant, oppres- 
sive, cruel, and avaricious. Though the 
Arabs had preceded them in those seas by 
hundreds of years, yet the Portuguese lay 
claim to everything the seas contained, both 
by right of "discovery" and of authority 
from the pope, who had obligingly divided 
the world then imknown between Spain and 
Portugal ; and it was for them to share and 
conquer it, without regard to opposition by 
the inhabitants thereof. The people in the 
East Indies were as indignant over the act 
of the Roman pontiff, in giving away that to 
which he had no right, as were those of the 
West Indies, and, being more civilized and 
powerful, they took action accordingly. 

In short, the Zamorim of Calicut, aided 
by the Arabs, raised and equipped an im- 
mense armada, consisting of more than two 
hundred vessels, of which eighty were ships 
and the others large proas. So many there 
32 



HIS HEROIC EXPLOITS 

were, and so densely packed together, as 
they advanced upon Cananor, that their 
masts resembled a forest. Thousands of 
fighting -men were aboard of them, but 
against this armada Dom Lourenzo, the 
viceroy's indomitable son (who was com- 
pelled to bear the brunt of the battle, his 
father being away), could bring only a doz- 
en ships and less than a thousand soldiers. 
They were ships of great size, however, and 
the Portuguese were men of great valor, so 
Dom Lourenzo drove his compact squad- 
ron into the centre of the enemy's fleet, like 
a wedge, and split it astinder. In his great 
nao, the Rodrigo Rebello, he bore down upon 
the Moorish flag-ship, grappled and boarded 
her. Six hundred of the enemy fiercely 
opposed him and his men; but in vain, for 
shortly after all had been killed or swept 
into the sea. 

Shaking himself free from the flag-ship, 
he sought and boarded a heavier craft, con- 
taining fifteen hundred men, and this time, 
doubtless, would have been overwhelmed 
had not Nufio Vaz Pereira, captain of an- 
other Portuguese vessel, grappled with the 
same ship on the other side. There were 
more Moors aboard than there were Chris- 
33 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

tians in both attacking vessels combined, 
but, hemmed in as they were, between the 
two bodies of boarders, they were cut down 
by hundreds. 

Fernan Magellan was with Nuno Vaz 
Pereira, on whose ship he held a commission. 
He led a party of boarders against the mass 
of Moors huddled on the decks between the 
contending Christians, and with his sword 
hewed a bloody lane from one side to the 
other. Having done this he came face to 
face with Dom Lourenzo, who was also hack- 
ing at the enemy with his halberd. The 
slaughter was frightful, for quarter was 
neither given nor asked. The decks were 
ankle-deep in blood, and but for the fact 
that they were tightly wedged together the 
savage contestants could scarcely have kept 
their footing. 

"God be praised!" shouted Dom Louren- 
zo, as they met. "We shall yet gain the 
victory over these dogs, if we but follow 
it!" And follow it they did, until all the 
unfortunate wretches were slain, or driven 
overboard into the sea, which was red with 
their blood on ever}'' side. Similar scenes 
were being enacted in other parts of the 
fleet, and finally the Moors, seeing the tide 
34 



HIS HEROIC EXPLOITS 

of battle turning against them, drew off 
their scattered proas and left the Portuguese 
victors. 

Fernan Magellan received a wound in 
this battle, and was for many weeks in 
hospital at Cananor. Scarcely had he re- 
covered than he was again on duty with his 
old commander, Pereira, and off for the 
African coast. There they were detained 
many months, building fortresses and en- 
gaging in conflicts with the Moors. They 
lost heavily in these various battles, but the 
greatest losses were occasioned by the dead- 
ly climate of Mozambique, on the coast of 
which the northeast monsoons held them for 
months, unable to return to India. 

At the first change of the monsoon they 
hastened back to the Malabar coast, there 
to find the fortresses they had previously 
erected razed to the ground, and not only 
the Zamorim and the King of Calicut in 
open rebellion, but a new and more power- 
ful enemy opposed to the Portuguese. This 
new foe was no less than the Sultan of 
Egypt, who, at last aroused over the pros- 
pective loss of the vast caravan trade which 
passed through his country from the Red 
and Arabian seas, sent his admiral to build 
35 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

a fleet of ships and launch them against the 
predatory infidels. This admiral, Emir Ho- 
seyn, was as dauntless and energetic as he 
was skilled in warfare. Without a single 
vessel on the Red Sea, he caused timber to 
be cut in Asia Minor and transported on 
camel-back to Suez, where ten ships were 
built, launched, and equipped. With these 
ten ships as the nucleus of a fleet, he gath- 
ered around him others at various ports, 
and then sought Dom Lourenzo's squadron, 
which was lying in the Chaul River. Though 
Dom Lourenzo fought his ship, after having 
been cut off from the vessels of his own 
fleet, imtil the decks were level with the 
water, he would not surrender, but went 
down, wounded and dying, with all his 
valiant sailors. 

The victory was a costly one for the 
Egyptian, since it brought upon him the 
vengeance of the viceroy, who, enraged at 
the death of his son, sought to bring the 
enemy at close quarters during more than 
a year succeeding to the battle. When, 
finally, on the point of sailing forth to en- 
gage Emir Hoseyn, and while his fleet lay 
at Cananor, Almeida received an order from 
Dom Manoel to resign his viceroyship to 
36 



HIS HEROIC EXPLOITS 

Dom Affonso Albuquerque, who had wrought 
great havoc among the fleets of the Ara- 
bian Sea. Though destitute now of ambi- 
tion, having lost his favorite son, Almeida 
refused to resign the seal, keys, and pa- 
pers of his office until he had taken re- 
venge of the Egyptian admiral. Fiercely he 
repulsed Albuquerque and his proffers of 
assistance, fiercely he sailed away with his 
avenging fleet of nineteen vessels, contain- 
ing twenty- three hundred men. Whatever 
came in his way he destroyed, whether ship 
or city, and he spared no Mussulman who 
fell into his hands; for he held the enemy 
collectively responsible for the death of his 
son. 

The Egyptian's victory was won the last 
of December, 1507; the great Portuguese 
captains, Almeida and Albuquerque, met at 
Cananor the first week of December, 1508, 
and it was not until February, 1509, that 
Almeida found opportunity for sating his 
vengeance. In the first week of that month 
he discovered the Egyptian fleet anchored 
off the harbor of Diu, one hundred sail, 
containing thousands of men, among whom 
were eight himdred fierce Mamelukes in 
chain armor. The attack was led by Cap- 
37 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

tain Nufio Vaz Pereira, in the great galleon 
Holy Ghost, and close by his side was Fernan 
Magellan, whose wound was now healed, and 
who led a party of boarders to the decks 
of the Egyptian flag-ship. The slaughter 
that ensued was so great that of the eight 
hundred Mamelukes but a score survived, 
and in all more than four thousand men 
were killed, on both sides, before victory 
finally perched upon the standards of the 
Portuguese. The Egyptians surrendered, 
and that was their last expiring effort to 
check the advance of the infidels, for by 
this battle Portuguese supremacy in the 
Indies became assured. 

Magellan was again wounded, though 
slightly, and his beloved captain, Pereira, 
shot in the throat and killed. He was thus 
compelled to sail under the flag of another, 
and as Almeida practically withdrew from 
active campaigning after he had crushed 
the Egyptians, he transferred his allegiance 
to Albuquerque. In the heart of Almeida 
there was, and perhaps with good reason, a 
deep and rankling jealousy of Albuquerque, 
who had been sent out to supersede him, 
after he had nearly accomplished the con- 
quest of the Indian coasts. He felt, indeed, 
38 



HIS HEROIC EXPLOITS 

that there was much more yet to be done, 
and as he had carried out the schemes of the 
king with great success he was reluctant to 
resign the authority into the hands of another. 

The sequel proved that Almeida's fore- 
cast was correct, for, though he had done 
wonders in the short time at his disposal, 
Albuquerque so far exceeded him in the ex- 
tent of his conquests, and the results of or- 
ganized governments which he founded, that 
he is much the better known of the two. 
Albuquerque "the Great," also known as the 
''Portuguese Mars," though the second vice- 
roy of Portuguese India, and successor to 
one who was in many respects his equal, 
became celebrated as the virtual founder of 
Portugal's vast empire in the Far East. 
He was a typical (and his men enthusiasti- 
cally declared an ideal, soldier) with his 
dignified bearing and flowing, snow-white 
beard commanding respect, and by his 
gracious presence and genial nature winning 
the hearts of his followers, whose hardships 
he freely shared. 

After the differences between the two 
warring viceroys had been adjusted, we 
find Fernan Magellan enlisted under Albu- 
querque's banner and, in the month of 
39 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

April, 1509, sailing on an expedition to 
Malacca. His captain's name was Sequeira, 
and that he was not the equal of the la- 
mented Pereira, Magellan was soon con- 
vinced. He obeyed him implicitly though, 
and when Sequeira ran into the harbor of 
Malacca and anchored his ships in the 
midst of the Malay fleets, he took the post 
of danger assigned him without a protest. 
Still, he had his suspicions aroused by what 
he observed, and when the king of Malacca 
sent an invitation to the captain and all his 
officers to dine with him ashore (intending 
to murder them and then attack the ships), 
he warned Sequeira in time to save his life 
and the lives of his shipmates. 

There was no proof of the design, however, 
and feeling, perhaps, that he had judged the 
king too hastily,, the captain allowed the 
Malays free access to his ships, which had 
been divested of nearly all 'their small boats 
under a pretext by the king of Malacca 
that he had a large quantity of pepper and 
spices ready for shipment. Francisco Ser- 
rao, an experienced captain, had been sent 
ashore with a large party of sailors, and thus 
the fleet was weakened by being depleted 
of its best men. 

40 



HIS HEROIC EXPLOITS 

A massacre had been planned, the signal 
for which was to be the discharge of a gun 
from the citadel. Although he had no more 
proof of it than he had before of the king's 
intention to massacre the Portuguese while 
his guests were at a banquet, Magellan could 
not but believe the evidence his eyes afforded 
him. He became tuieasy, and, though he 
was stationed on deck, he sought Captain 
Sequeira in his cabin, with the intention of 
confiding to him his suspicions. He found 
him playing chess with a Malay official and 
surrounded by seven or eight fierce-looking 
natives armed with krises. 

Without removing his eyes from the 
board, Sequeira listened to Magellan's whis- 
pered warnings, and then, as though still 
unsuspicious, ordered him ashore to assist 
Serrao, and a sailor into the main- top to 
keep watch on proceedings in the harbor. 
Hardly had the sailor reached his position 
aloft than, chancing to glance downward, 
he saw one of the Malays standing behind 
Sequeira draw his kris, or crooked dagger, 
and glanced significantly at a companion. 
The latter shook his head, as if to warn him 
that the signal had not been given, when 
at that moment the cannon boomed from 
41 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

the citadel, its report mingled with the 
sailor's cry of ''Treachery, captain! Your 
life is in danger!" 

Whether the captain heard, or whether 
he had been cognizant of what was trans- 
piring, he bounded from his seat so sud- 
denly as to baffle the Malay with the kris, 
and escaped to the deck. There he quickly 
assembled a rescue party and, attacking the 
Malays in the cabin, killed some and drove 
the others overboard. 

He had scarcely freed the ship from the 
foe when a fleet of armed proas was seen 
rounding a promontory and making for the 
harbor. Slipping his cables, Sequeira sailed 
into the centre of them, serving his great 
guns right and left, so that such of the 
proas as were not crippled or sent to the 
bottom scrambled hastily out to sea again. 
Meanwhile, Fernan Magellan had gone to 
the rescue of Francisco Serrao and his men, 
whose craft had been boarded by a horde of 
Malays. They were in imminent peril, for 
the Malays held virtual possession of their 
boats and were bent upon their destruction. 
Magellan arrived at the opportune moment, 
and with his assistance the treacherous 
rascals were driven over the rail ; so it may 
42 



HIS HEROIC EXPLOITS 

be said that he actually saved the lives of 
Serrao's crew. This fact Serrao himself 
never forgot, and henceforth the two were 
intimate friends. After Magellan had left 
India for home, Francisco Serrao wrote him 
frequently, and it was due to information 
in one of his letters, sent from the Spice 
Islands about ten years later, that Fernan 
undertook to sail to those islands by the 
way of South America and the Pacific. 

About sixty Portuguese were taken cap- 
tive on shore, but after waiting several days 
in a vain attempt to ransom them, Sequeira 
landed two of his own captives, each with 
an arrow through his brain, with the signifi- 
cant message to the king that some one 
would be sent by his sovereign to avenge 
the treason of his enemies, even if he did 
not return. Then he sailed for India, but 
before reaching Cananor learned that Al- 
meida, whose cause he had espoused against 
Albuquerque's, had departed for Portugal, 
and hence changed his course to follow after. 
The superseded viceroy never reached Portu- 
gal, for when on the coast of Africa, home- 
bound, he landed at Saldanha Bay for water 
and provisions, and there became involved 
in a skirmish with the Kafirs, by whom he 
43 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

was slain. His rival and successor, Albu- 
querque, survived him about five years, and 
like him perished in Indian waters, dying at 
sea off Goa, in December, 15 15. 

Magellan and Serrao did not accompany 
their commander home to Portugal, but 
kept on from Cochin, where they probably 
met Albuquerque, shortly after his disastrous 
defeat at Calicut. He was then about 
sending awa}^ the home -bound fleet for 
Portugal, laden with spices and other pre- 
cious commodities. He ordered Fernan Ma- 
gellan, who was now captain of a ship 
(having won this position by promotion 
for valorous conduct), to convoy a portion 
of the fleet into the open ocean. Through a 
mistake of the pilot, Magellan's vessel ran 
on a reef, in the group of islands known as 
the Laccadives, about one hundred miles 
from Cananor. It sat bolt upright on the 
reef, as in a cradle, but the seamen feared 
it would break up on a change of the tide, 
or coming of a storm, and promptly took 
to the boats. 

Though the situation was perilous, there 

was still a semblance of discipline, and only 

the officers and hidalgos were allowed in 

the boats, which were so few that there was 

44 



HIS HEROIC EXPLOITS 

no room for others. As captain of the 
ship, Magellan was entitled to a passage in 
one of the boats but, seeing that the crew 
were on the verge of mutiny, left as they 
were with no officers in control, he declared 
he would remain with the wreck until as- 
sistance arrived. This decision put heart 
into the seamen, who stood by him most 
loyally. By his direction they shored up 
the hull with the spars, removed the pro- 
visions from the hold to the deck, and with 
the sails made tents, in which they lived a 
week, until rescued by a caravel sent from 
Cananor. 

The young captain's action won him the 
affection of the seamen and the approval of 
Albuquerque the Great; but, shortly after, 
he incurred the displeasure of the latter at 
a conference of the captains called to dis- 
cuss the siege of Goa, which the viceroy 
desired to prosecute but which Magellan 
opposed. 



IV 

MALACCA, MOROCCO, AND HOME 
1512-1516 

THE " Portuguese Mars," great and mighty 
Albuquerque, was a genial, venerable- 
appearing commander, with pleasant coun- 
tenance and affable manners, but with 
a will of his own which few men dared 
oppose. Magellan, at the council of war 
called for the purpose of deciding upon 
laying siege to Goa, an important city and 
island off the Indian coast, ventured to 
offer an opinion contrary to that which 
Albuquerque held, and was henceforward 
persona nan grata with the viceroy. It mat- 
tered little to the great man what Magellan 
thought or advised; but it mattered much 
that he should demur at the proposal to 
take the merchant - ships to Goa, since it 
was advocated by the commander. 

''If we do so," said Magellan, stoutly, 
"thev cannot pass, this year, to Portugal, 
46 



MALACCA, MOROCCO, AND HOME 

for which their cargoes are already pre- 
pared; and if we fail this annual voyage, 
there will be great disappointment at home." 

There was no quarrel, there was no out- 
ward display of irritation; but the viceroy 
caustically remarked that if there were any 
who did not wish to go to Goa, he would 
not compel them, inferring thereby that 
Magellan may have had an ulterior reason 
for his dissent. Nothing more was said, 
however, for Dom Affonso had decided to 
take the merchant -vessels; and take them 
he did, though it turned out as Magellan 
had said: there was great disappointment 
and murmuring, and much loss to those 
whose rights should have been respected. 

Still, Fernan Magellan was with the vice- 
roy at Goa. He participated in the assault 
by which the city was taken, and though 
he was not mentioned among the "honor- 
able cavaliers" recommended to the king's 
favor, he certainly deserved that honor. 
On the contrary, indeed, Albuquerque is 
said to have sent an intimation to Dom 
Manoel that his ward had proved perverse 
and unworthy of confidence. Whatever may 
have reached the king, from that time for- 
ward Fernan Magellan no longer enjoyed 

4 47 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

the light of his countenance, and when he 
returned to Portugal he met with a very 
cold reception. 

The last expedition in which we can 
authoritatively place Magellan as a mem- 
ber, holding the rank of captain, is that 
which Albuquerque tmdertook for the re- 
duction of Malacca. It sailed from Cochin 
in the month of August, 151 1, an armada 
of nineteen vessels, and was successful from 
the start, capturing junks and merchant- 
ships at various points on the voyage. In 
one of the ships, it is said, they found the 
body of King Nahodabeguea, the treacher- 
ous Malaccan who had conceived the plot 
for taking Sequeira's fleet and the lives of 
his men. 

Magellan and Serrao must have gazed 
upon the cadaver with grim satisfaction, 
and have felt that the scheme of revenge 
for the slaughter of their comrades was to 
be fulfilled. They arrived at Malacca July 
ist; but though the city had no strong de- 
fences, it held out six long weeks, so fierce 
were the men who defended it, and so nu- 
merous the cannon with which it was pro- 
vided. There were, the historians tell us, 
twenty thousand fighting - men and three 
48 



MALACCA, MOROCCO, AND HOME 

thousand pieces of artillery, while Albuquer- 
que had scant fifteen hundred men, among 
whom were included six hundred native arch- 
ers from the Malabar coast. 

[By the capture of Malacca, the viceroy 
gained the gate of the Indian Ocean, as it 
has been termed, "through which the entire 
commerce of the Moluccas, the Philippines, 
Japan, and China passed on its road to the 
Mediterranean. ' ' Most important of all were 
the Spice Islands, the riches of which the 
Portuguese were anxious to obtain, domi- 
nance over which was the object aimed at 
by Portugal and some time later by Spain. 

The energetic viceroy lost no time in 
sending a squadron in search of the Spice 
Islands, and three galleons, in charge of 
Captain Antonio d'Abreu, sailed for the 
Moluccas as soon as they could be detached 
from the fleet and fitted for the voyage. 
Abreu was commander of the squadron and 
captained one of the trio of galleons; the 
other two were commanded, respectively, 
by Francisco Serrao and (according to one 
historian) Feman Magellan. 

It is really quite provoking, the doubt 
that exists as to whether or not Magellan 
took this voyage beyond Malacca to the 
49 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

Moluccas; but we are unable to decide the 
question. It is probable that he took it, 
since one historian, Argensola, makes the 
statement absolutely, while against him is 
merely the silence of the several others who 
wrote of Magellan's doings at this time. 
They may not have thought it worth while 
to mention his command of a galleon, when 
there were so many captains equally cele- 
brated with himself, for he had done noth- 
ing up to that time to attract particular 
attention. The chief importance of this 
question lies in its bearing upon his future 
actions in respect to these same Spice Isl- 
ands, for eight or nine years later we find 
him representing to the King of Spain that 
he knew of a route thither until that time 
untraversed. Either he learned of these 
islands and this route through his own 
observations, or gained the knowledge from 
his friend Francisco Serrao, with whom he 
is known to have maintained a correspond- 
ence for years. 

Respecting Serrao we have full informa- 
tion, especially relating to this voyage, and 
it is of such adventurous character that we 
could wish Magellan might have been con- 
nected with it, instead of the man whose life 
SO 



MALACCA, MOROCCO, AND HOME 

he saved. After successfully accomplishing 
the voyage to the Moluccas, and lading his 
galleons with most precious spices, more 
than worth their weight in gold, Abreu 
set sail for Malacca. The weather was 
"heavy," the seas were uncharted and full 
of reefs and shoals unknown to man, so it is 
not strange that one of the vessels, that 
commanded by Serrao, struck on a coral 
reef and became a total wreck. 

The island upon which the unfortunate 
Portuguese lost their vessel w^as uninhabited, 
save by pirates and wreckers who visited it 
occasionally to glean w^hat the reefs had 
brought them. The morning after the dis- 
aster, as Serrao was looking out to sea, he 
beheld a piratical proa approaching the 
island. He knew at a glance the character 
of the craft and hiding with his men in 
a cave, awaited developments. Seeing the 
wreck on the reefs, the pirates landed for 
the purpose of finding the survivors, who 
they knew must be on the island. 

They made a great mistake in going 
ashore in a body, leaving no one on board 
their craft, and Serrao and his men, who 
had hidden near the shore, silently swam 
off to the vessel and took possession with- 
51 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

out opposition. When the pirates found 
out what had been done they were in dis- 
may, and promised the Portuguese anything 
if they would not leave them on that desert 
island without food or water. Their prayers 
were granted, and together all sailed for 
Amboina, one of the Moluccas, where Serrao 
found favor with the king, and whence, dur- 
ing the years in which he continued to reside 
there^ — from about 15 12 to 1520 — he wrote 
frequent letters to Magellan. 

But the two never met after the termina- 
tion of this voyage — whether Fernan Magel- 
lan went on it or not — for, while Serrao 
remained in the Moluccas, as the captain- 
general of a native king, his friend returned 
to Lisbon, where we find him in the year 
151 2. After seven years spent in distant 
lands in the service of his king, cruising and 
fighting continually, Magellan made his way 
back to the country of his birth, where only 
paltry honors, without substantial emolu- 
ment, were his reward. 

In token that he belonged to the king's 
household, and was really a ** servant of his 
majesty," he was entitled to a stipend, 
hardly more than nominal — in fact, con- 
temptible — called the moradia. In his case 
52 



MALACCA, MOROCCO, AND HOME 

it amounted to about a dollar a month and 
an alqueire, or measure containing not quite 
thirty pounds of barley, daily. In consider- 
ation of his great services, he was promoted 
to the rank of nobleman, entitled to a coat 
of arms, and his pension was doubled, so 
that he was privileged to draw from the 
royal treasury the sum of twenty-four dol- 
lars per annum. 

As he had lost all properties acquired in 
the Indies (though his share of the plunder 
must have been quite large), he returned to 
Portugal relatively poor, and soon after 
retired to the small estate at Saborosa. 
But he did not stay there long, for to one 
who had sniffed the smoke of battle on many 
a field, who had participated in the scenes 
attendant upon the extension of Portugal's 
great eastern empire — founding settlements, 
subjecting strange peoples, and erecting 
fortresses — country life was tame and un- 
eventful. He soon bade adieu to secluded 
Saborosa, and probably for the last time, 
as soon after he was compelled to quit the 
country by the king's compulsion. 

He wandered back to Lisbon, seeking an 
opportunity to sail again for India, but, 
soldier-like, followed along the line of least 
53 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

resistance, and, finding no good chance for 
the East, enHsted for Morocco. An armada 
was to be despatched to the Moroccan coast 
consisting of four hundred ships and eigh- 
teen thousand fighting-men, merely for the 
sake of avenging an insult to his majesty 
Dom Manoel. It set sail in August, 15 13, 
and arrived off Azamor, the offending city 
and port, within two weeks after. The 
mere sight of such a mighty fleet brought 
the Moors quickly to terms, and the city 
was taken by the Portuguese without the 
loss of a man. They held it through the 
succeeding winter, during which it was the 
custom of the most venturesome of the cav- 
aliers to make armed forays into the coun- 
try roundabout. 

Among these mounted hidalgos who de- 
lighted in scampering about the country at 
night, for the purpose of returning at morn 
with spoils of the Moors, was Feman Magel- 
lan. He was equally at home on ship or on 
horseback, and always anxious to be in 
motion, whether on one or the other. On 
one of his excursions he discovered the 
patrols of a vast army advancing, which 
proved to be one that had been assembled 
by the kings of Fez and Mequinez for the 
54 



MALACCA, MOROCCO, AND HOME 

relief of Azamor. So rapidly and so silently 
had the Moors advanced — most of them hav- 
ing embarked on the famed "ships of the 
desert," their swift and tireless dromedaries 
— that they were almost upon the city be- 
fore Magellan ran against the van of that 
formidable host. He turned his horse tow- 
ards Azamor and, with several well-mounted 
Arabs in pursuit, dashed towards and into 
the gateway of the city, shouting lustily: 
''The Moors! the Moors!" 

The pursuing Arabs halted so abruptly 
at the city portal that their foam-fiecked 
barbs were thrown upon their haunches. 
Disappointed of their prey, they returned 
to the main army, which encamped at the 
river Azamor, where the Portuguese troops 
promptly attacked them. They routed the 
vanguard with loss, but the main body of 
the army was so vast that it forced those 
in front ahead, filling the gaps caused by 
the Portuguese artillery and almost over- 
w^helming the city, in spite of terrible 
slaughter. When at last the Arab host was 
forced to retreat, a thousand prisoners re- 
mained in the hands of the Portuguese, and 
more than eight hundred horses. 

The booty was so vast that a special 
55 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

board was named to apportion it, and one 
of its members was Fernan Magellan, who, 
having been wounded by a lance-thrust in 
the knee, was incapacitated for active service. 
This wound, in fact, which was received in 
a charge he led upon the Arab vanguard, 
was the cause of lameness during the re- 
mainder of his life, and ever after he walked 
with a perceptible limp. It was also the 
indirect cause of a final rupture of his rela- 
tions with Dom Manoel, for as soon as he 
had completed his labors on the board of 
apportionment, he hastened home to prefer 
a claim for an increase of his moradia. It 
was on accotmt of the wound, primarily, but 
ostensibly for his long term of service in the 
king's armies. 

Unable, as he was, to sit in his saddle and 
fight, and there being no longer any Moors 
to contend with at Azamor, he saw no 
reason why he should not return to Lisbon, 
especially as his old commander, Dom Joao 
de Meneses, with whom he was a favorite, 
had been replaced by another, who treated 
him badly from the outset. The new com- 
mander, in fact, sent word to Dom Manoel 
that Captain Fernan Magellan had left 
Africa without his permission, and that, 

56 



MALACCA, MOROCCO, AND HOME 

moreover, he was charged with irregularities 
in the division of the booty obtained from 
the Moors. He was accused, in company 
with another of the board, Captain Alvaro 
Monteiro, of selling horses and cattle to the 
Moors and pocketing the proceeds ; but Magel- 
lan contended that on the contrary he had re- 
fused to do so, and thereby had incurred the 
enmity of the very people who denounced him. 
The king, probably with the charges of 
Albuquerque in mind, refused to listen to 
Fernan's excuses, and ordered him to return 
at once to Azamor. Dom Manoel had al- 
ways loathed him, one historian tells us, but 
gives no reason for the king's aversion, ex- 
cept it might have been that Magellan de- 
served greater rewards than he accorded 
him. Having spent seven years in India 
and a year in Africa — having wasted in the 
king's service the very best years of his 
manhood's prime — Magellan was certainly 
entitled to great consideration. But he did 
not get it, nor even scant recognition of 
what he had done, for when, having once 
more returned to Lisbon, with papers prov- 
ing his innocence of any misdemeanor, he 
asked for an increase in his pension, he was 
peremptorily refused. 

57 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

Lest Fernan Magellan be accused of sor- 
didly estimating his services at a money 
value, let it be stated that the increase was 
but half a cruzado per month, or a paltry 
sum of twenty-six cents; and it was not 
this augmentation of his moradia that he 
desired so much as the enhancement of 
reputation and the promotion that it car- 
ried. The larger the moradia, the higher its 
recipient stood in favor with the king and 
in rank, hence the rivalry among the cava- 
liers to obtain an increase whenever pos- 
sible. 

But Magellan had to do with a sovereign 
every way as mean and niggardly as Henry 
VII. of England; one who was ''suspicious 
of his servants, even, and very jealous of 
directing personally all the details of gov- 
ernment." Whatever sentimental value the 
cavaliers may have attached to the mo- 
radia, he viewed every extension of it as 
an increased drain upon his treasury. It 
is told of him that, when Albuquerque 
doubled the pay of his men who had been 
wounded at Calicut, the king was greatly 
incensed. They should have been satisfied, 
he said, with the pittance they received and 
the glory they won; and so with Magellan: 
58 



MALACCA, MOROCCO, AND HOME 

the royal boor insinuated that he had feigned 
his lameness in order to excite sympathy for 
his claim to an increase of pension ! 

After that, could a self-respecting subject 
again approach such a parsimonious, base- 
minded monarch and request a favor of 
him ? Magellan steeled himself to once more 
crave an interview with Dom Manoel, though 
it was for the purpose of bestowing a favor, 
not requesting one; but the king's jealousy 
and short-sightedness prompted him to set 
aside a gift which went to his rival the King 
of Spain. 



MAGELLAN EXPATRIATED 
1517 

THAT a man who had spent one -fourth 
his life in fighting for his country should, 
from spite or malice, renounce that coun- 
try and carry his talents to another seems 
incredible, and one who would do so may 
be termed contemptible. Fernan Magellan 
expatriated himself, and some of his ene- 
mies have declared it was because of the 
king's refusal to increase his pension and 
bestow upon him the promotion he craved; 
but this is not the truth. He was deeply 
wounded; he may have grieved in silence or 
have denounced Dom Manoel to his friends; 
but, though it may have appeared to him 
that the king had treated him imjustly, he 
had no thought of renouncing his allegiance 
simply for that reason. 

During two or three years succeeding to 
his rebuff by Dom Manoel, Fernan Magellan 
60 



MAGELLAN EXPATRIATED 

remained in Portugal without employ by the 
king, but by no means idle. One of his 
Portuguese biographers tells us that he was 
"always busied with pilots, charts, and the 
question of longitudes," and from this we 
may infer his intentions. He had voyaged 
a great deal, he had fought lustily ; and now, 
at the age of thirty-five to thirty-seven, it 
was high time that he should think upon 
what he had seen. What he evolved from 
the seclusion of those two or three years 
passed in retirement, shows that they were 
the most fruitful in his experience. The 
idea had occurred to him — but when, and 
how suggested, is not known — that the 
Spice Islands of the Eastern Seas could per- 
haps be reached by a direct voyage across 
the Atlantic (and perchance that other ocean 
which Balboa had espied from Darien), in- 
stead of by the circuitous route arotmd the 
Cape of Good Hope. 

This idea, crystallized into an intelligible 
and definite scheme, Fernan Magellan took 
to his sovereign, expecting — at least, hoping 
— that he would assist him to carry it out. 
But, the coldness with which Dom Manoel 
received him, and the brusqueness with 
which he repelled the suggestion, showed 
6i 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

him to be a fit successor to King John II., 
who had spurned the proposition for a new- 
world voyage of discovery by Christopher 
Columbus. Dom Manoel did not, like his 
predecessor, send out craft to ascertain if 
the scheme of a voyage to the Spice Islands 
were feasible, nor even consult with cos- 
mographers as to its practicability. He re- 
jected the proposition, as well from igno- 
rance of its vast significance, as from hatred 
of Magellan; and the author of this new 
idea, who had perchance dreamed of winning 
a name for himself, with his sovereign's 
assistance, retired from the royal presence, 
disappointed and indignant, but not hum- 
bled or mortified. 

Never, he declared, would he invite insult 
and contumely again by presenting himself 
before the king, who not only ignored his 
deserts as a soldier, but took delight in 
holding him up to ridicule. But it is doubt- 
ful whether he had then formed the resolve 
to carry his scheme to the court of Portugal's 
only rival in the field of discovery at that 
time — Spain, which occupied the major por- 
tion of the Iberian peninsula, and had 
garnered bountiful harvests from the coun- 
tries revealed by Columbus. 
62 



MAGELLAN EXPATRIATED 

Portuguese historians aver that the sug- 
gestion to denaturalize himself was ''of the 
devil," and point to the fact that Fernan 
Magellan's most intimate friend was an 
astrologer, and hence in league with the 
powers of darkness. This intimate friend, 
they say, and not Magellan, was the author 
of the idea: that by sailing westerly, not east- 
erly, the most direct route to the Moluccas 
would be foimd. This friend was Ruy Fa- 
leiro, a misanthropic scholar and dreamer, 
who passed his time in abstruse studies, and 
whose friendship for Magellan was the only 
one that he is said to have formed. Inas- 
much as they were intimately associated, 
diiring the two or three years of Fernan 's 
retirement, and as Faleiro was a learned 
astronomer and cosmographer, it is possible 
that the idea was his, as well as the sugges- 
tion that the two friends should abandon a 
country which showed itself so ungrateful 
and imappreciative, for another, which might 
receive them more hospitably. One thing 
was certain, Ruy Faleiro is said to have im- 
pressed upon the downcast Magellan: his 
career in Portugal was at an end, for, whom 
the king looked upon with disfavor was blast- 
ed for life. 

5 63 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

Let us assume that the idea was theirs in 
common: that it had originated in their fre- 
quent conversations, when Magellan, the 
man of energy and action, who had been in 
the East and remembered what he had seen, 
may have alluded to facts which fitted in 
with Faleiro's theories and speculations. 
For Magellan was a sailor-soldier, who had 
been too long guided by and at the beck of 
others, to conceive an original hypothesis; 
while Faleiro was a thinker, whose synthetic 
order of intellect was equal to the construc- 
tion of a perfect globe, from the mismatched 
fragments of half -informed cosmographers. 

Faleiro and Magellan put their heads to- 
gether, and arrived at the truth, which was, 
that there was no longer a career for the 
latter in Portugal; that Dom Manoel was a 
dunce, and being what he was, incapable of 
change, nor open to argument, would never 
assist an expedition by the western route; 
that inasmuch as Spain's newly acquired 
possessions lay to the west of the great 
meridian of demarcation drawn by order of 
the pope, while Portugal's all lay to the east, 
there was a better prospect of assistance from 
Spain than from Portugal. 

Hence, argued Faleiro, their only hope lay 
64 



MAGELLAN EXPATRIATED 

in Spain, where the enlightened Don Carlos 
was king, and who, though young — a mere 
youth, in fact — was possessed of wisdom 
beyond his age. Ruy Faleiro, indeed, is said 
to have gone beyond mere prediction, and, 
availing himself of his knowledge as an as- 
trologer, indulged in prophecy. He fore- 
saw, he said, the success of the scheme — his 
scheme, he called it — ^but before success was 
gained, before the voyage projected by them 
should become an accomplished fact, both 
were to be deprived by death of the glory 
that was rightly theirs. 

Faleiro was gloomy by nature, a mystic, 
whose head was nearer the stars than the 
earth. As time went on he became morose 
and surly, and was as a thorn in the side of 
Fernan Magellan, whose disposition was 
more inclined to be joyous than gloomy. 
Before many months, in fact, Ruy Faleiro 
developed indications of insanity, which de- 
prived him of the privilege of accompanying 
his friend on the great voyage which they 
had planned together. 

Dom Manoel had, in effect, informed Ma- 
gellan, when he intimated there were others 
who might look upon his plans more approv- 
ingly, that he was free to go whither he 
65 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

desired, and there was no opposition to the 
departure of himself and Faleiro, when they 
at last left Portugal for Spain. They were 
hardly worth considering, of course, the 
sovereign thought, provided he was informed 
at all of their going ; but within a year or two 
he went wild with rage, at the mere mention 
of their names. 

Having resigned his commission as a 
captain in the royal service, Fernan Magellan 
departed from Portugal, without first taking 
leave of the king, on account of the humilia- 
tion to which he had been subjected. His 
pride, perhaps, was greater than his discre- 
tion; but it cannot be denied that he had 
good cause for a feeling of resentment towards 
one who had treated him so badly. One 
Portuguese historian, writing not long after 
this event, states that when Fernan demand- 
ed permission from Dom Manoel to go and 
live with some one who would reward his 
services, he received the reply that he might 
do as he pleased. "Upon this, Magellan 
desired to kiss his hand at parting, but the 
king would not offer it to him." 

All the Portuguese historians, ancient as 
well as modern, denounce Magellan and 
Faleiro for their act of denationalization, as 
66 



MAGELLAN EXPATRIATED 

if theirs was the first instance of the kind. 
While, however, they may, more formally 
than others, have renounced allegiance to 
their sovereign, they had several notable 
examples to cite : as Columbus, who, after he 
left his native Genoa, became naturalized 
in Portugal, where he married, and then in 
Spain ; Sebastian Cabot, who left England for 
Spain, where he lived many years, before re- 
turning to pass his old age in the land that 
honored him most; Vespucci the Venetian, 
who also occupied the important post of 
pilot-major at the time Magellan arrived at 
Seville. 

No great opposition had been made to 
their renunciation of citizenship, in the lands 
of their birth, and it was not until they had 
become great and famous, that their com- 
patriots concerned themselves about their 
doings at all. But one writer calls Faleiro 
and Magellan "unnatural monsters, traitors 
to the king whom it was their duty to serve ; 
barbarians towards the country for which it 
was their duty to die." They conspired, he 
said, "to bring about a fatal war between 
two neighboring and friendly powers"; but 
of this there is no proof, and in fact they did 
nothing of the kind. What they did was to 
67 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

leave a kingdom where there was no hope of 
advancement, and seek another, in which 
they trusted to receive encouragement. 

They arrived in Seville, then the Mecca of 
all voyagers and discoverers, in October, 
15 1 7. They reached it unheralded, except 
that the fame of Magellan's exploits had 
preceded him, in a general way; but they 
directly found themselves among friends 
and fellow-countrymen, refugees from the 
persecutions of Portuguese monarchs. The 
most eminent of these, Dom Alvaro of Por- 
tugal, a brother of the Duke of Braganza 
(who was executed by Joao the Perfect for 
treason), occupied the elevated post of al- 
caide, or chief of the arsenal. Many others 
who, like him, had fled from Portugal for po- 
litical reasons, had found in Spain not only 
an asylum of refuge, but obtained congenial 
employment in the royal service. 

In fact, what would Spain have done, in 
the matter of discovery and world-achieve- 
ment, had she not harbored the refugees of 
other lands, during the very period in which 
she was so mercilessly expelling the Moors 
and the Jews? So that these refugees were 
professed followers of the cross, and so-called 
Christians, they required no other creden- 
68 



MAGELLAN EXPATRIATED 

tials, but were at once taken to the hearts 
of all Spaniards. 

Suffice it to state, that the two expatriated 
ones were at once introduced to quite a large 
Portuguese colony, the various homes of 
which were at once thrown open to them. 
But more than this: Magellan, it is said, 
found relations there, with whom he had 
once been on terms of intimacy. Dom Diego 
Barbosa, the assistant alcaide of the arsenal, 
a knight-commander of the renowned Order 
of Santiago, and a man of great influence in 
Seville, is alluded to by writers of the time 
as a prinio, or cousin of Magellan. He had 
been fourteen years in Spain, having come 
from Portugal, where Fernan Magellan was 
an occasional inmate of his family, visiting 
it from Saborosa, and when he could escape 
from Dom Manoel's court. 

Not alone the tie of kinship (it was whis- 
pered), bound Fernan Magellan to the family 
of Dom Diego Barbosa ; but there was an add- 
ed attraction in the person of Dom Diego's 
daughter, lovely Beatrix, a maiden of many 
charms, though then quite young. The two 
cousins were mutually attracted, and their 
parents thought them so well suited to each 
other that they may have dreamed of their 
69 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

future happiness together. But the young 
man went off to the wars, the maiden accom- 
panied her father to Spain, and so they were 
separated. Whether they corresponded, dur- 
ing those long years of separation, we do not 
know; but the remembrance of his youthful 
sweetheart may have kept the young soldier 
from many evils, into which so many of his 
companions wildly plunged, in their dissolute 
days of soldiering. 

Was her image in his heart, all the while, 
and was the thought of her an incentive for 
his going to Spain? It may be, for, soon 
after he was installed in her father's house, an 
honored guest, he commenced an ardent 
courtship, which resulted in their marriage 
before the year had ended. This was Fernan 
Magellan's first and only romance, so far as 
we know, for he had never played the lover 
to fair ladies, many of whom he must have 
met in his wanderings, and who must have 
been attracted to him by his robust personal- 
ity and admirable qualities. So he married 
the beautiful Beatrix Barbosa, and in Seville, 
where, too, Amerigo Vespucci had met his 
bride and passed the brief period of his 
wedded life, they spent their honeymoon. 

We may allude to this episode — for it was 
70 



MAGELLAN EXPATRIATED 

scarcely more than that — as a romance; but 
Magellan was too practical, too deeply ab- 
sorbed in his pursuit, to allow it to divert 
him from the real object of his visit. Were 
he likely to do so, the persistent Faleiro- — 
whose one love was knowledge, and whose 
only mistress was science — would have re- 
minded him of his duty, for, seemingly aware 
that his time was short, he could brook no 
delay. He worried his friend so constantly, 
he created such scenes at the casa de con- 
tratacion, or house of the Indies, which had 
supervision over all expeditions, that Fernan 
was only too glad to set off to visit the court. 
It chanced that Dom Diego Barbosa, Fernan 's 
father-in-law, was the very person to place 
them in communication with the court and 
the king, for he had faithfully served Ferdi- 
nand the Catholic, grandfather of the then 
reigning sovereign, as well as Dom Manoel 
in the Indies. His prestige was such that he 
soon arranged for their reception, and within 
three months of their arrival in Spain, the 
two companions set out for Valladolid, where 
the youthful king was then holding court. 

"He had but recently arrived from Flanders, 
aiid was still surrounded by and under the 
influence of those parasitic Flemings, who, 
71 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

knowing their tenure of office was likely to 
be short, were exploiting Spain and its re- 
sources with energy and avidity. They 
could not but be jealous of the Spanish cour- 
tiers, who, in the nature of things, must 
shortly supersede them, and who, on their 
part, were furious that their boy king was 
so completely under Flemish influence. He 
could scarcely speak the language of the 
coimtry he had come to govern — the speech 
of Joanna his mother, of Isabella and Ferdi- 
nand, his grandmother and grandfather — 
and it is doubtful if he could understand, 
still less appreciate, a scheme that might 
extend to the other side of the globe Spain's 
influence and prestige. 

Fortunately for sovereigns of the sort to 
which belonged the youthful Charles at that 
period of his life, kings can have their think- 
ing done for them by others. King Charles 
had but recently lost the sagest of coun- 
sellors. Cardinal Ximenes, regent of Spain, 
who had died in the month of November 
previous; but there remained, together with 
several Flemings of no great parts, the ener- 
getic, and in many ways admirable Fonseca, 
Bishop of Burgos. He was the real and 
actual head of the great India house, and his 
72 



MAGELLAN EXPATRIATED 

advice had greater weight than that of all 
other Spaniards combined. He was avari- 
cious, hatefully malignant, despicably mean, 
and had been the declared enemy of all dis- 
coverers, from Columbus to Balboa, whose 
plans he had thwarted or opposed to the 
extent of his great ability. 

But there was something in the appear- 
ance of the two latest suppliants for royal 
favor, Magellan and Faleiro, that interested 
the bishop and enchained his attention. 
Ruy Faleiro, mystic and astrologer, was a 
man of commanding presence, with deep- 
browed, glittering eyes, raven-black beard 
and flowing hair, his costume as fantastic 
as that of any Moorish astrologer whose 
science he professed. He could read the 
minds of men as well as he could the stars, 
and he quickly perceived the great bishop's 
vulnerable points, which were vanity, avari- 
ciousness, and admiration for worth and 
learning. It took him but a short time to 
convince the worldly prelate that he was the 
greatest man on earth, that the scheme pro- 
posed would result in his vast enrichment, 
and that Ruy Faleiro, who addressed him, 
was profoundly erudite. 

Fernan Magellan could scarcely lay claim 
73 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

to an impressive presence, for he was not 
above middle height, his countenance, though 
attractive, was not striking, and in his walk 
he limped perceptibly, from the wound re- 
ceived in Africa. But he knew the East 
Indies, to which he convincingly pointed out 
the new route westerly, upon a planisphere 
he had brought from Portugal, and his ex- 
ploits gave him high standing in the bishop's 
estimation. Thus the two combined wrought 
upon the churchman favorably, for while Ruy 
Faleiro fascinated, Fernan Magellan con- 
vinced him by absolute proofs that the route 
was feasible, and, being so, it could not but be 
profitable to Spain to exploit it. 

One of the proofs was a letter from Fran- 
cisco Serrao, the friend of Magellan, who 
had been wrecked among the Spice Islands, 
and who had remained there ever since. 
He told of the vast wealth to be accumu- 
lated there in spices, and expressed his 
belief (which Ruy Faleiro confirmed) that 
the Moluccas belonged to Spain, not to Port- 
ugal, as they lay west of the pope's line of 
demarcation, which was projected in 1494 
by the treaty of Tordesillas. And, says 
the historian Gomara, "other bids for cre- 
dence did he make, conjecturing that the 
74 



MAGELLAN EXPATRIATED 

land [now known as South America] turned 
westward, in the same manner as did that 
of Good Hope towards the east. . . . And 
since on the track thus taken no passage 
existed, he would coast the whole continent 
till he came to the cape which corresponds 
to the Cape of Good Hope, and would dis- 
cover many new lands, and the way to the 
Spice Islands, as he promised. . . . Such an 
expedition would be long, difficult, and 
costly, and many did not understand it, 
while others did not believe in it. How- 
ever, the generality of people had faith in 
him [Magellan], as a man who had been 
seven years in India, and because, though 
a Portuguese, he declared that Sumatra, 
Malacca, and other Eastern lands where 
spices could be found, belonged to the king- 
dom of Castile." 



I 



VI 

A KING CONVINCED 

THE fantastic Faleiro and the serious Ma- 
gellan won a great victory when they 
brought over Bishop Fonseca to their way 
of thinking, for his way was the king's 
way — just then ; and they convinced Charles 
of the feasibility of their scheme when they 
convinced the head of the India house. For 
one who had grown old and gray in the 
fitting out of expeditions which rarely re- 
alized the expectations of their promoters, 
and in combating the plans of hard-headed 
navigators who desired to sail to the utter- 
most ends of the earth, the great churchman 
was quite enthusiastic. This may have been 
because he was still under the spell of that 
necromancer, Ruy Faleiro; but whatever 
the cause, he promised to take the matter 
up with the king, who was then absent on 
76 



A KING CONVINCED 

a hunting-trip, and this was equivalent to 
stamping it with the royal approval. In- 
deed, Fonseca attended to the business so 
faithfully that a capitulacion was drawn up 
and signed only two months after their ar- 
rival at Valladolid, first by the king, then 
by Faleiro and Magellan, by which the sov- 
ereign agreed to provide an armada of five 
ships, provision it for two years, and furnish 
at least two hundred and fifty men for the 
crews. 

The date of this instnmient was March 
22, 1 518, only five months after their arri- 
val in Spain, and it must be admitted that 
the partners had made very good progress. 
Very few petitioners at royal courts, especial- 
ly at the court of Castile, had ever received 
such prompt and respectful attention, or had 
so few obstacles thrown in their way. The 
reader will quite naturally revert to the case 
of Columbus, by way of contrast, and recall 
the long years spent by that humble suppli- 
ant at the coiirt of Isabella and Ferdinand. 
But the granting of a petition is not imme- 
diately fulfilling the obligations incurred, and 
eighteen months passed away before that 
promised fleet set sail. 

By the terms of the contract between the 
77 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

king and the Portuguese partners, no ex- 
ploration was to be projected or carried 
within the boundaries claimed by the 
king's "dear and well-beloved uncle," Dom 
Manoel, whose "rights" were to be rigidly 
respected. In other words, while Charles 
was willing to appropriate the services of 
Dom Manoel' s former subjects, whose se- 
crets were invaluable assets, and in effect 
invade the islands pertaining to Portugal, 
he was yet scrupulous to show a careful 
observance of the Tordesillas treaty, by 
which the world -line of delimitation was 
fixed between the two countries. 

No time less favorable, on the face of it, 
could have been chosen for the securing of 
a concession from Spain, where the rights of 
her nearest neighbor were concerned, than 
that taken by Faleiro and Magellan, for 
other important negotiations were going on, 
which Charles very much desired to see 
carried through successfully. These nego- 
tiations related to nothing less than a 
matrimonial alliance between Dom Manoel, 
aged fifty, and King Charles's sister Leonora, 
aged twenty. Like most aged wooers who 
have set their hearts upon acquiring youth- 
ful consorts, the Portuguese king was ardent 
78 



A KING CONVINCED 

in his love-making (by proxy), while the 
prospective bride was diffident, though sub- 
ject to the command of her brother — in fact, 
an unwilling victim. 

The ambassador charged with the im- 
portant mission was one Alvaro da Costa, 
Dom Manoel's grand chamberlain and keeper 
of the robes. He was less fit, apparently, 
to transact such weighty negotiations as 
those with which he was intrusted than to 
dust and air his sovereign's wardrobe, for 
though aware of what was occurring with 
reference to the Moluccas, he could conceive 
of no method for arresting progress. A 
marriage treaty was drafted at Zaragoza, on 
May 2 2, 1 518, which was ratified July 16, 
only four days before the India house was 
finally informed that it was the king's un- 
alterable determination to prosecute the 
enterprise projected in conjunction with 
Faleiro and Magellan. Charles must have 
known that his royal cousin of Portugal 
would not view this action in a favorable 
light. In truth, Dom Manoel's ambassa- 
dor lost no time in giving him that impres- 
sion, first by suggestive hints, then by open 
arguments, but without avail. As the sum- 
mer waned, without any signs of relent- 

6 79 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

ing on the part of King Charles as to 
severing connections with the ambassador's 
discredited countrymen, Dom Alvaro became 
quite frantic, and one day, pushing past the 
officers on guard, told the sovereign to his 
face that he was committing a great wrong 
in putting this affront upon his royal master. 
He was, in fact, jeopardizing the chances for 
the union between the king's sister and the 
king's cousin; but it is related that Charles 
replied rather tartly to this insinuation, 
that it mattered to him no whit, for his 
sister was sure of a suitor, and perchance 
might occupy a greater throne than the 
Portuguese. In point of fact, a few years 
later she did, for having been married 
to Dom Manoel in November, 1518, she 
was, after his death in 1521, united to 
Francis I. of France, whom she also out- 
lived. 

The last week of September, 15 18, Dom 
Alvaro wrote his sovereign a letter concern- 
ing his woes, which, as it gives a faithful 
picture of the times and throws much light 
upon the intentions of Dom Manoel respect- 
ing Magellan, is herewith reproduced, in 
translation, from the original in the archives 
of the Torre do Tombo : 
80 



A KING CONVINCED 

"Sire, — Concerning the matter of Fernao Ma- 
galhaes, how much I have done and how much I 
have labored, God knows; and now, Chievres [the 
minister] being ill, I have spoken upon the subject 
very strongly to the king himself, putting before 
him all the inconveniences that in this case may 
arise, and also representing to him what an ugly 
matter it was, and how unusual, for one king to 
receive the subjects of another king, his friend, 
contrary to his wish — a thing unheard of among 
caballeros, and accounted both ill-judged and ill- 
seeming. Yet I had just put your highness and 
your highness's possessions at his service here 
in Valladolid, at the moment he was harboring 
these persons against your will. 

"I begged him to consider that this was not 
the time to offend your highness, the more so in 
an affair which was of so little importance and 
so uncertain; and that he would have subjects 
enough of his own to make discoveries, when the 
time came, without resorting to these malcontents 
of your highness, whom your highness could not 
fail to believe likely to labor more for your dis- 
service than for anything else. ... I also repre- 
sented to him the bad appearance that this would 
have, in the year and very moment of the mar- 
riage — the ratification of friendship and affection. 
And also, that it seemed to me that your highness 
would much regret to learn that these men asked 
leave of him to return, and that he did not grant 
it, the which are two faults: the receiving of them 
contrary to your desire, and the retaining them 
contrary to their own. And I begged of him, 
both for his own and your highness's sake, that 
8i 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

he would do one of two things — either permit 
them to go, or put off the affair for this year, by 
which he would not lose much, and means might 
be taken whereby he might be obliged, and your 
highness might not be offended, as you would be 
were this scheme carried out. 

"He was so surprised, sire, at what I told him, 
that I also was surprised; but he replied to me 
with the best words in the world, saying that on 
no account did he wish to offend 3^our highness, 
and many other good words; and he suggested 
that I should speak to the cardinal, and confide 
the whole matter to him. I, sire, had already 
talked the matter over with the cardinal, who is 
the best thing here, and who does not approve of 
the business, and he promised me to do what he 
could to get off the affair. He spoke to the king, 
and thereupon they summoned the Bishop of 
Burgos, who is the chief supporter of the scheme. 
And with that, certain two men of the council 
succeeded in making the king believe that he did 
your highness no wrong, since he only ordered 
exploration to be made within his own limits, 
and far from your highness's possessions; and 
that your highness should not take it ill that he 
should make use of two of your subjects — men of 
no great importance — while your highness him- 
self employed many Spaniards. They also ad- 
duced many other arguments, and at last the 
cardinal told me that the bishop and others 
insisted so much upon the subject that the king 
could not now alter his determination. 

"While Chievres was well, I kept representing 
this business to him, as I have just said, and 
82 



A KING CONVINCED 

much more. He lays the blame [of course] upon 
those Spaniards who have pushed the king on, 
but says he will speak to the king. On former 
occasions, however, I besought him much on this 
subject, and he never came to any determination, 
and thus I think he will act now. 

"It seems to me, sire, that your highness might 
get back Femao de Magalhaes — which would be 
a great blow to these people — but as for the 
bachelor [Ruy Faleiro], I do not count him much, 
for he is half crazy. . . . 

"Do not let yovir highness infer that I went 
too far in what I said to the king, for, besides the 
fact that all I said was true, these people do not 
perceive anything, nor has the king liberty, up 
to now, to do anything for himself, and on that 
account his actions may be the less regarded. 

"May the Lord increase the life and dominions 
of your highness, to His holy service. 

"From Zaragoza, Tuesday night, September 28, 
1518. 

"I kiss the hands of your highness. 

"Alvaro da Costa." 

It was true, as Dom Alvaro wrote Dom 
Manoel, the king could not, or would not, 
alter his determination, and, spurred on by 
the Bishop of Burgos, the India house ex- 
celled all previous records in furnishing ships, 
supplies, and men. A friend of an official 
high in position, one Aranda, was deputed to 
piirchase the ships, which were obtained at 
83 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

Cadiz, and were in such poor condition that 
the Portuguese factor, who was spying upon 
these proceedings for his king, reported them 
unsafe even for a voyage to the Canaries. 

"They are old and battered," he wrote, 
''and their ribs as soft as butter! Sorry 
would I be to sail in them, your highness." 
But one of these "sorry ships" afterwards 
sailed around the world, for the first time in 
the history of the globe it circumnavigated, 
and two of them safely reached the Philip- 
pines. Still, they were old, practically un- 
seaworthy, and it required all Fernan Magel- 
lan's skill and care to make them fit, and 
carry him across two great oceans. 

These are their names and their tonnage: 
the San Antonio, 120 tons ; Trinidad, no tons ; 
Concepcion, 90 tons; Victoria, 85 tons, and the 
Santiago, 75 tons. They closely approximat- 
ed to the total tonnage promised by the king 
in his capitulacion, falling but twenty tons 
short, in the aggregate; and Magellan, seeing 
that his royal master was trying to keep 
faith with him, set himself cheerily to the 
work of fitting them out. 

King Charles, indeed, went further than 
he had promised, for, in advance of confirm- 
ing the agreement he had made with Magel- 



A KING CONVINCED 

Ian and Faleiro, he bestowed upon them a 
precious token of his high esteem. In the 
presence of the king and his council, at 
Valladolid, they were admitted to the ven- 
erated Order of Santiago, and decorated 
with the cross of comendador, or knight- 
commander. Then, about the end of July, 
the two captains left Valladolid for Seville, 
where their labor was unremitting, until 
the fleet dropped down the Guadalquivir to 
San Lucar. 

Meanwhile, Portuguese factors, hired 
agents, and even assassins, in the pay of 
Portugal (it has been averred), sought to 
prevent Magellan from carrying out his 
scheme. He was first approached by Dom 
Alvaro da Costa, the king's ambassador, 
who, having Dom Manoel's promise of pro- 
motion should he succeed in defeating the 
enterprise, labored lustily to dissuade him 
from the project. He offered him the royal 
pardon, not only, but the rewards of a high 
position, if he would leave Spain and return 
to Portugal; but Magellan would not listen. 
"Consider," then urged Dom Alvaro, "that 
you not only sin against the king, but against 
God, inasmuch as he is the servant of God, 
and you will forever stain his good name. 
85 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

Moreover, reflect that you will be the cause 
of dissension between two sovereigns, who,- 
but for you, will still further strengthen the 
ties of blood and friendship that unite them, 
by the union of the Spanish princess with 
his Highness Dom Manoel. But for you, 
Fernan Magellan — consider well!" 

''They will marry," answered Magellan, 
*'whate'er betide, for your king's heart is set 
upon it ; though as to the princess — well, that 
is a matter for her conscience; little she in- 
clines that way, I fancy. As for me, my 
word is pledged to King Charles, and on my 
sacred honor, I shall not break with him!" 

''You will repent these words," declared 
Dom Alvaro, giving him an evil look; and 
that he did not repent them was through no 
fault of the Portuguese. Departing from 
the region of the court, however, Magellan 
was rid of the ambassador's presence, though 
not beyond his influence — as he soon had 
reason to believe. 

It was on a dark night, in Seville. After a 
day of toil at the India house, Fernan had 
slipped over to a dinner with Bishop Fonseca, 
at whose house he w^as always welcome. The 
two were much together now, for the 
bishop, erratic and sordid as he had the 
86 



A KING CONVINCED 

reputation of being in his dealings with 
others, had taken a great fancy to Magellan. 
Usually, after an evening with his friend, 
Fonseca had insisted upon some of his 
armed retainers accompanying Fernan to his 
home, in the house of Dom Diego Barbosa. 
But on this night, somehow, the precaution 
was omitted, though the bishop well knew 
the dangers that lurked in the path of his 
young friend. He saw to it, however, that 
Fernan had his sword by his side, and laugh- 
ingly remarked that he presumed he knew 
how to use it. 

"If I do not, it is not from lack of prac- 
tise," lightly replied Magellan, kissing the 
fingers extended to him by the bishop, and 
swinging out into the darkness. He had not 
proceeded far, for he was at a corner of the 
great cathedral, when out from the shadow 
of its main portal leaped a man with a drawn 
dagger in his hand. He aimed a blow at 
Magellan's back, between the shotdders ; but 
his prey in prospective was alert, for he had 
seen the sinister shadow, projected by the 
faint light of a waning moon. He whirled 
aroimd with great rapidity, and with his 
sword slashed the would-be assassin across 
the face. Blinded by blood, the man whined 
^1 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

piteously, and Fernan had not the heart to 
kill him, though he was completely at his 
mercy. 

"Take that to Dom Alvaro," he simply 
said, wiping his sword and thrusting it into 
its sheath. "And tell him this: It is a 
proverb of my country, and he must know 
it: 'The lame goat never takes a siesta 
(cabra manca ndo tern sesta)J' he added, 
grimly, limping away with this jest on his 
lips at his own deformity. 

Fernan Magellan was not disturbed by 
these attacks, nor by the knowledge that his 
life was constantly in danger, for he con- 
sidered it " part of the game " to be assaulted. 
Give him his good Toledo blade only, and 
fair warning — he asked nothing else of the 
enemy. The Portuguese respected him for 
his courage, and took pride in him as their 
countryman; but the dastardly hirelings of 
Dom Manoel continued to worry him, never- 
theless. 

One day in October, as he was engaged 
in overhauling the Trinidad, which he had 
occasion to careen at low tide, early in the 
morning, a crowd of idlers gathered about 
him as, busy at work, he went hither and 
thither about the ship -yard. At last, an 
88 



A KING CONVINCED 

alguacil, or petty official, a constable, went 
to one of the four capstans used in careening 
the vessel, and tore from it a flag bearing the 
arms of Magellan, which, as was customary 
for the captain of a ship, he had placed there. 

"It is a Portuguese flag," he shouted, 
"and no right has he to fly it on a Spanish 
vessel!" The crowd took up the cry: "A 
Portuguese flag on a Spanish ship. Down 
with the stranger — the Portuguese!" 

An aristocrat by birth, and a comendador 
of Santiago by grace of the king, Magellan 
refused to exchange words with the alguacil, 
and when the mob drove away his men and 
advanced upon him with clubs and stones, he 
calmly folded his arms and told the captain 
of the port, who had taken sides against him, 
that owing to the rising of the tide the vessel 
was in peril, and if anything happened to her 
his would be the responsibility. As for the 
mob, he turned his back upon it scornfully, 
refusing to explain or defend actions for 
which he was responsible only to the king. 
The outburst of fury against him was some- 
what allayed by the arrest of a few of his 
men, who were marched off to prison by the 
alguacil and the captain of the port; but 
Magellan himself was unharmed. 
89 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

The next day he wrote a spirited letter to 
the king, complaining of the insult offered 
to "one of your highness 's captains," and 
commending the action of his friend Sancho 
Matienzo, an official of the India house, who 
had gallantly come to his rescue and calmed 
the tumult, at the risk of his life. The king 
responded graciously, sending his approval 
of what Magellan had done in the premises, 
praising Matienzo 's action, censuring the port 
captain, and ordering the arrest and punish- 
ment of the derelict officials. After which 
rebuke by the king, no Spaniard dared in- 
sult Magellan publicly ; but there was an un- 
dercurrent of hatred running against him, as 
was shown by the straws on the surface. 



VII 

A KING INCENSED 
1518 

ALL the attempts upon Fernan Magel- 
L lan's life, and all the endeavors to frus- 
trate the fitting out of his expedition, are 
said to have had their origin at the court 
of Dom Manoel, King of Portugal, succes- 
sor to monarchs whose policy countenanced 
assassination as a legitimate means to ac- 
complish an end greatly desired. There is 
a tradition, in fact, that he was urged to 
assassinate Magellan by no less a personage 
than Ferdinand Vasconcellos, then Bishop 
of Lamego, who was afterwards promoted 
to the bishopric of Lisbon. That he listened 
to this advice, and set his emissaries upon 
Fernan 's track with orders to dispose of 
him by a deed of blood, was believed at the 
time and has never been disproved. 

Ruy Faleiro, the astrologer, was not mo- 
lested, because, as Dom Alvaro wrote his 
91 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

sovereign, he was far gone on the road to 
the mad-house, and to kill him would be a 
work of supererogation. He was worth 
more to Portugal alive than dead, while 
his partner, Fernan, would be a reproach 
to Portugal as long as he lived. Faleiro 
was already babbling of the voyage's suc- 
cessful outcome, and of the idea which he 
had suggested to Fernan, his friend, who, 
but for him, would never have thought of 
attaining the Spiceries by a western passage, 
but who was already reaping all the honors 
as prospective commander of the fleet. 
King Charles might become convinced, be- 
fore it was too late, that these two were but 
a brace of madmen, in sooth — the one a 
veritable lunatic, and the other a schemer — 
whose one idea had its birth in a mind dis- 
traught. So poor Faleiro was allowed to 
live and babble on, while all the endeavors 
of royalty, diplomats, commercial agents, 
and mercenary murderers were concentrated 
upon his partner. 

While the sturdy and fearless Magellan 
went his way as he had intended, paying no 
attention to rumors of evil which beset him, 
but always alert — ever with sword on hip 
and dagger in his boot — over in Portugal his 
92 



A KING INCENSED 

royal archenemy was loudly proclaiming to 
the world his disappointment and chagrin." 
He had not given Magellan and Faleiro so 
much as a thought when they slipped across 
the border-line between Portugal and Spain, 
hardly considering them worth apprehend- 
ing; but when, through powerful friends, 
they had gained access to King Charles, and 
had convinced him that profit and glory 
waited upon the promotion of their scheme, 
then Dom Manoel became suddenly alarmed. 

In his resentment he did a petty thing, 
even for a king, which was this : He ordered 
that the Magellan arms should be erased 
from above the doorway of his house! That 
little Quinta de Souta, in the rocky wilds of 
Traz-os-Montes, was the centre of a tumult- 
uous scene one day, in the year 1518, when 
the soldiers of the king arrived to do his 
bidding. All the country people, simple but 
honest, uncouth but loyal, assembled as the 
tidings were spread. 

"Fernao Magalhaes' arms are to be de- 
stroyed; he is to be disgraced, and the 
name he bears insulted." This was all the 
king could do, for the humble castle in Sa- 
borosa was even then deserted by its own- 
ers. Fernan's father was dead, having been 
93 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

predeceased by his mother; his sisters were 
married and away. The only other Magel- 
lans in the male line, his three uncles, had, 
like him, fought the battles of their king in 
India, and there had perished. Fernan was 
the sole survivor of the name (it is believed), 
and he was disgraced. 

Many years afterwards, the old castle 
having fallen to ruin, another structure was 
erected on its site, in a corner of which 
was inserted the stone with the sculptured 
arms, mutilated "by order of the king"; 
and there it may be seen to-day — this mute 
witness to the petty spite of a monarch 
whom circumstances might have made truly 
great had not nature cast him in so mean 
a mould ! 

This action of the king cast such a stigma 
upon the character of Magellan, and brought 
the name into such disrepute, that for genera- 
tions after the natives of Traz-os-Montes held 
him in detestation. He never returned to 
the land of his birth, but in course of time his 
estates and titles fell to a grandnephew, one 
Francisco da Silva Telles, who was made to 
feel the malice of a people who regarded 
Magellan as a traitor and renegade. They 
assailed his house with stones and execrated 
94 



A KING INCENSED 

his name, whenever he walked through the 
streets, so that he was at last compelled to 
leave the district and the country. He 
sailed for Brazil, where he acquired a planta- 
tion in the wild province of Maranham. 

There he lived, and there, before he died, 
he executed a remarkable will, in which he 
denoimced the author of his misfortunes, the 
great but misimderstood Fernan Magellan. 
Instead of holding against the ignorant 
natives of Saborosa the htimiliating treat- 
ment he had received, as the heir of Magellan, 
he laid it to the latter 's account, and ordered 
that, forevermore, the family coat of arms 
should remain obliterated. For it was done, 
he wrote, "by the order of my lord the king, 
as a punishment for the crime of Fernao 
Magalhaes, in that he entered the service of 
Castile to the injury of this kingdom, and 
went to discover new lands, where he died in 
the disgrace of our king." 

Thus, as we have seen, hatred of Magel- 
lan was inculcated by Portugal's king, who, 
moreover, passed him on to the obloquy of 
future generations. And yet, says his most 
painstaking English biographer (Professor 
Guillemard), Magellan, *' unable to obtain a 
recognition of his services at the hands of his 

7 95 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

sovereign, Dom Manoel, did only what a 
triad of great navigators — Columbus, Cabot, 
and Vespucci — had already done before him, 
and what was at that period by no means 
unusual: he left his country and offered his 
sword to Charles V." 

Now, having done with the malicious Dom 
Manoel for the present, let us return to 
Seville, where Fernan Magellan, secure in the 
confidence of his adoptive sovereign, happy 
in the love of his beautiful wife, and sur- 
rounded by devoted friends, was planning 
what proved to be the greatest voyage in the 
history of the world. If he had forebodings, 
he kept them to himself; if he had pre- 
visions of his future greatness, he did not 
allow them to turn his head or make him 
arrogant and proud. 

He is, we think,, the best example — or, at 
least, one of the best examples — the world 
can show of a man born to greatness un- 
spoiled by the certain assurance of success. 
He had advanced with rapid strides from 
obscurity to renown. In a few short months 
he had risen from the ranks of the relatively 
unknown to a position of trust and influence 
second to no other in the kingdom. For, 
had not the king intrusted him with riches 
96 



A KING INCENSED 

which he could hardly spare : with a fleet con- 
taining, besides a vast amount of treasure 
expended in guns, ammunition, provisions, 
supplies for trade and barter, two hundred 
and fifty of his loyal subjects? 

Had King Charles no other object in view 
than the opening of a new route to the East, 
this evidence of his faith in an alien whose 
only credentials were honesty and fixity of 
purpose would seem remarkable; but he 
needed the money which he had expended 
on this expedition for other — perchance, in 
his estimation, greater — enterprises, to be 
conducted by his captains on land. His 
captain on the sea was to be Fernan Magellan, 
and this supreme confidence, by the king, 
in one who had been maligned and mistreated 
by his own sovereign, and cast forth as an 
ingrate, was requited by an unswerving de- 
votion and loyalty lasting until death. 

T King Charles was always in need of money, 
and the greater the sums transmitted from 
mines and plantations over the sea, the great- 
er became his imperious demands. The In- 
dia house informed him that they were in 
straits for funds, and were told that funds 
would be forthcoming, but from what source 
to be derived the king knew not. At this 
97 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

juncture in stepped a wealthy merchant 
formerly from Antwerp, one Christopher de 
Haro, who had once resided in Lisbon, where 
he had been treated unjustly by Dom Manoel, 
and, like Magellan, had sought in Spain a 
chance to retrieve his fortunes. He offered 
to advance the munificent sum of one million 
six hundred thousand maravedis, or about 
one-fifth the conjectural cost of the expedi- 
tion, and other merchants joining with him 
in the venture, more than one -fourth the 
funds necessary were eventually raised . These 
amounted, in total, to more than eight million 
maravedis, or about twenty -five thousand 
dollars. H 

So the king obtained much of the money 
necessary to defray the expenses of the 
armada without putting his hand in his 
pocket — after the manner of kings — and yet 
he got the credit of having furnished the 
entire armada. He was extremely liberal 
in concessions that cost him nothing but the 
paper they were written on, as in this case, 
and readily granted Magellan a monopoly of 
trade (by the new route) in the Spice Islands 
for the space of ten years; a twentieth part 
of the profits resulting; permission to send 
goods for barter to the amount of a thousand 
98 



A KING INCENSED 

ducats; and, provided more than six islands 
were discovered, their trade and ownership en- 
tirely ; besides all of which he was to have the 
title of adelantado. Ruy Faleiro was original- 
ly included as a beneficiary, in these stipula- 
tions ; but by the time the fleet was ready he 
was more fit for the mad-house than for the 
command of a vessel, and hence was left 
behind. It was said by some that his mad- 
ness was feigned, on account of having dis- 
covered, by casting his own horoscope, that 
disaster and death would attend the ex- 
pedition from its inception to its ending, and 
that he himself would not escape the almost 
universal fatalities. 

During their stay on shore, while the fleet 
was being equipped, Faleiro and Magellan 
were entitled to a salary of one hundred and 
seventy -six thousand maravedis each. A 
treasurer to the fleet was appointed at a sal- 
ary of sixty thousand maravedis, and the 
several captains were each to receive one 
hundred and ten thousand maravedis. As 
proof conclusive that the learned Ruy Faleiro 
had not quite lost his mind — at least up to 
within a few months of the sailing of the 
fleet — it may be stated that his brother 
received an appointment as factor, resident 
99 

LOf(X 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

in Seville, at a salary of twenty-five thou- 
sand maravedis. 

Slowly, but certainly, the preparations for 
the voyage went on. **No man in the 
world, perhaps, knew better than Magellan 
what he needed. The expedition, therefore, 
sailed with as perfect an equipment as the 
time knew how to furnish." Before it sail- 
ed, however, Magellan received further proof 
that Portugal was still determined to pre- 
vent, if possible, this expedition from ac- 
complishing the purpose for which it was 
intended. There came to him the Portu- 
guese factor in Seville, Sebastian Alvarez, 
whose evil intentions were shown by the 
emeute over the flags, not long before, which 
he himself had instigated. His part in the 
affair is set forth in the following letter writ- 
ten to Dom Manoel, by which, it seems, he 
was acting for the king and by his orders. 

"I went to Magellan's house, ''where I 
found him filling baskets and chests with 
preserved victuals and other things, and see- 
ing him thus engaged, I pretended it seemed 
to me that his evil design was settled, and 
since this would be the last word I should 
have with him, I desired to bring to his 
memory how many times, as a good Portu- 

lOO 



A KING INCENSED 

guese and his friend, I had spoken to him, 
dissuading him from the great mistake he 
was committing. And after asking pardon 
of him, lest he should be offended at what 
I had to say, I told him that the path he 
had chosen was beset with as many dangers 
as the wheel of St. Catherine, and that 
he ought to leave it and take that which 
led to Coimbra, and return to his native 
land and to the favor of your highness, 
at whose hands he should always receive 
benefits. 

"In our conversation I brought before 
him all the dangers I could think of, and 
the mistakes he was making. Then he said 
to me that now, as an honorable man, he 
could only follow the path he had chosen. 
I replied that to unduly gain honor, and to 
gain it with infamy, was neither wisdom nor 
honor, but rather the lack of both, for he 
might be sure that the chief Spaniards of 
this city, in speaking of him, held him for a 
low person, and of no breeding, since, to 
the disservice of his true king and lord, he 
had embarked in such an undertaking, and 
so much the more since it was set going, 
arranged, and petitioned for by him. And 
he might be certain that he was considered 

lOI 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

as a traitor, engaging himself thus, in oppo- 
sition to your highness 's country. 

"Here he repHed to me that he saw the 
mistake he had made, but that he hoped to 
observe your highness 's service, and by his 
voyage to be of assistance to you. I told 
him that whoever should praise him for such 
an expression of opinion did not understand 
it; for unless he touched your highness 's 
possessions, how was he to discover what he 
said? Besides, it was a great injury to the 
revenue of your highness, which would af- 
fect the whole kingdom and every class of 
people, and it was a far more virtuous 
thought that inspired him when he told 
me that if your highness ordered him to 
return to Portugal, he would do it without 
further guarantee of reward, and that when 
you granted none to him, there was Serra- 
dossa, and seven yards of gray cloth and 
some gall-nut beads open to him! ^ So then 
it seemed that his heart was true, as far as 
his honor and conscience were concerned. 

"Our conversation was of so long dura- 
tion that I cannot write out all of it; but 
at this juncture, sire, he gave me a sign to 

* That is, he would turn monk and retire from the 
world. This imputation, doubtless, was false, 

I02 



A KING INCENSED 

indicate that I should tell him more: that 
if your highness commanded me I should 
tell him so, and also the reward that you 
would grant him. I told him that I was not 
a person of such weight that your highness 
would employ me for such a purpose, but 
that I said it to him, as I had on many occa- 
sions. Here he wished to pay me a compli- 
ment, saying that if what I had begun with 
him was carried on without interference by 
others, your highness would be served; but 
that Nuno Ribeiro had told him one thing, 
which meant nothing, and Joao Mendez an- 
other, which bound him to nothing; and he 
related to me the favors they had offered 
him on the part of your highness. He then 
bewailed himself greatly, and said he was 
much concerned about it all, but that he 
knew nothing which could justify his leaving 
a king who had shown him such favor. 

"I told him that it would be a more 
certain matter, and attended with truer 
honor, to do what he ought to do, and not 
lose his reputation and the favors your 
highness would grant him. And if he 
weighed his coming from Portugal (which 
was for a hundred reals more or less of 
moradia that your highness did not grant 
103 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

him, in order not to break your laws), and 
that there had arrived two sets of orders 
at variance with his own which he had at 
the hands of Don Carlos, he would see 
whether this insult did not outbalance it — 
to go and do what it was his duty to do, rather 
than to remain here for what he came for. 

''He seemed greatly astonished at my 
knowing so much, and then he told me the 
truth, and how the messenger had left — all 
of which I already knew. And he told me 
that certainly there was no reason why he 
should abandon the undertaking, unless they 
[the king and the India house] failed to ful- 
fil anything in the terms of the agreement; 
but that first he must see what your highness 
would do. 

"I said to him, what more did he desire 
than to see the orders ? And there was Ruy 
Faleiro, who said openly that he was not 
going to follow his lantern [that is, follow 
the flag - ship, which always displayed a 
lantern on its poop], and that he would 
navigate to the south, or he would not sail 
with the fleet; and that he [Magellan] 
thought he was going as admiral, whereas 
I knew that others were being sent in oppo- 
sition to him, of whom he would know 
104 



A KING INCENSED 

nothing, except at a time when it would 
be too late to save his honor. 

"And I told him that he shoiild pay no 
heed to the honey that the Bishop of Burgos 
put to his lips, and that now was the time 
for him to choose his path, and that he 
should give me a letter to your highness, 
and that I, out of affection for him, would 
go to your highness and plead his cause; 
because I had no instructions from your 
highness concerning such business, and only 
said what I thought I had often said before. 
He told me that he would say nothing to 
me until he had seen the answer that the 
messenger brought, and with this our con- 
versation finished. . . . 

** I spoke to Ruy Faleiro twice, but he 
said nothing to me, save 'How could he do 
such a thing against the king, his lord, who 
had conferred such benefits upon him?' 
And to all that I said to him he gave no 
other answer. It seems to me that he is 
like a man affected in his reason, and that 
this his familiar [the devil] has taken away 
whatever wisdom he possessed. I think 
that if Fernao de Magalhaes were removed, 
that Ruy Faleiro would follow what Magal- 
haes has done. ... 

105 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 



1 



"The route which it is reported they are 
to take is direct by Cape Frio, leaving Brazil 
on the right, until they pass the boundary- 
line, and thence sail W. and W.-N.W., direct 
to Maluco [the Moluccas], which land of Ma- 
luco I have seen laid down on the globe and 
chart made here by Fernando de Reynell, . . . 
and on this pattern are constructed all the 
charts made by Diego Ribeiro. And he makes 
all the compasses, quadrants, and globes, but 
does not sail with the fleet, nor does he de- 
sire anything more than to gain a living by 
his skill. 

''From this Cape Frio to the islands of 
Maluco, by this route, there are no lands 
laid down on the charts they take. May 
God the Almighty grant that they make a 
voyage like that of the Cortereals; and that 
your highness may remain at rest, and ever 
be envied — as your highness is — by all 
princes!" 

The key-note of the whole letter lies in 
that expression: *' A voyage like that of the 
Cortereals," those engaged in which sailed 
for Labrador, about fifteen years before this 
was written, and were never heard of more. 
Their fate both Dom Manoel and his minion 
1 06 



A KING INCENSED 

Alvarez devoutly wished might be that of 
Magellan — unless he should be "removed," 
or in other words assassinated, in advance 
of sailing. The various evasions and per- 
versions in this letter are only exceeded by 
its malicious statements and innuendoes, as 
respecting King Charles's double orders, his 
desire that Magellan should be superseded 
after the fleet was well at sea, and the slan- 
der about unfortimate Ruy Faleiro. 

But Fernan Magellan seems to have pos- 
sessed the wisdom of the serpent with the 
innocence of the dove; for, while he heard 
the villain Alvarez through to the end, pa- 
tiently and without interruption, he still re- 
fused to be hoodwinked. Having full faith 
in the promises of the king, he awaited the 
return of the messenger he had sent him, 
a short time before the interview between 
himself and the Portuguese factor, and was 
rewarded by the royal confirmation of all 
his acts. 



VIII 

THE BEGINNING OF THE VOYAGE 
1519 

DOM MANOEL had not played his last 
card, even when his ambassador, his 
factor, and their despicable tools, the, hired 
assassins, gave up the game in despair. They 
had found Fernan Magellan sturdy as an 
oak, impregnable as a castle on a cliff; they 
assailed him in vain, with arguments, re- 
monstrances, and with physical violence, for 
he remained unshaken. 
/ Then the king, as a last resort, sent ships 
to the Cape of Good Hope, and to the Rio de 
la Plata, with strict orders to intercept the 
Spanish fleet should it arrive at either point, 
— orders equivalent to a declaration of war 
against a nation with which Portugal was at 
peace. Such was the misguided monarch's 
determination to repair the error he had 
committed, in allowing Magellan to leave his 
kingdom scathless, and to prevent the King 
108 



THE BEGINNING OF THE VOYAGE 

of Spain from benefiting by that error, that 
he commanded six ships of the Indian fleet 
to rendezvous at the Moluccas, with the same 
intention as the others — which was nothing 
less than the destruction of the Spanish 
squadron. ^ 

Whether aware of these mighty prepara- 
tions for his discomfiture or not, Fernan 
Magellan pursued his course without devia- 
tion, and on August lo, 15 19, dropped his 
vessels down the Guadalquivir to San Lu- 
car de Barrameda. This is a port at the 
mouth of the river whence many an expe- 
dition had taken its departure, for it was 
spacious and secure, and was protected 
by the castle of the great Duke of Medina 
Sidonia. Once there, Magellan felt person- 
ally more secure than in Seville, since he 
was less liable to be interrupted by his 
former sovereign's minions, and the men he 
had enlisted for the voyage could not be 
tampered with. In Seville, where the ships 
were moored to the banks of the river, his 
crews w^ere constantly enticed to desert by 
Portuguese agents; but in the broad harbor 
of San Lucar the fieet swung at anchor far 
from shore, and thus this danger was obvi- 
ated. Here, then, he completed his prepara- 
109 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

tions for the voyage, and there was so much 
to be done — so many trips had to be made 
to Seville — that it was more than a month 
before the final departure was taken. 

In these latter days of preparation, un- 
doubtedly, Fernan made the most of oppor- 
tunities for visiting his wife and family at 
the house of Dom Diego Barbosa, We have 
but scant ly mentioned that wife, the ami- 
able and lovely Beatrix Barbosa, whom he 
married after a brief courtship, and either 
left at Seville while he and Ruy Faleiro went 
northward to meet the king, or took with him 
on this eventful journey. Owing to the fact 
that no mention is made of her at the various 
places in which they tarried, and also from 
his frequent letters to her on the journey, we 
infer that she remained with her father while 
the great transactions took place which were 
to bestow fame upon her husband, as well as 
a reflected glory upon herself, but which, as 
well, were to be the means soon of separating 
them forever. 

Fernan 's home life, brief as it was, shows 
him at his best estate. He passionately 
loved his Beatrix, and when a son was born 
to them his happiness was supreme. This 
boy they named Rodrigo, and in the will 
no 



THE BEGINNING OF THE VOYAGE 

which Magellan drew and executed a few 
days before his departure, he was made heir 
to whatever fortune might accrue, after 
certain pious legacies had been paid to re- 
ligious institutions. Little Rodrigo was six 
months old when his father sailed away, and 
lived but five months after Magellan was 
killed, in April, 1521. His mother survived 
him only six months, passing away in March, 
1522, within less than a year of her husband's 
death. Thus perished the last of the Magel- 
lans, and thus ended the loves and lives of 
Fernan and his Beatrix. Fate, it would 
seem, bore hard upon these two, and who 
can but lament the unhappy termination of 
their wedded life, as brief as it was nearly 
perfect ? 

Fortunately for Fernan and Beatrix, no 
gift of prescience was theirs, to inform them 
of the ills in store for them, and they enjoyed 
their lives together to the full. Buoyant 
and hopeful, Fernan impressed his wife with 
his belief: that this one voyage would make 
him rich and famous, so that after it was 
ended they might dwell together all the time. 
And yet, how could she prevent the tears 
from welling at the thought of the long 
separation, and of the many dangers to 

8 III 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

which her husband would be exposed in that 
voyage through the unknown seas? 

Doubtless, Fernan comforted her with re- 
peated assurances that the dangers had been 
exaggerated; that, furnished as he was with 
a fleet perfectly equipped, and manned by 
honest sailors, the voyage would prove 
merely a matter of time and persistence. 
And when, in the church of Santa Maria de 
la Victoria, at Seville, Dona Beatrix saw her 
husband intrusted with the royal standard, 
and heard the plaudits lavished upon him as 
he took the oath of allegiance to the king, 
surrounded by the greatest and noblest of 
Spain's dignitaries, doubtless her heart swell- 
ed with pride, and sorrow was for a time 
thrust into the background. 

In the will executed by Magellan, to which 
reference has been made, he provided, so far 
as human foresight could provide, for his wife, 
his son, and the perpetuation of his name. 
To his wife, in case he predeceased her, his 
pension of fifty thousand maravedis was to be 
paid, while his son, who was named as resid- 
uary legatee to his estate, was to assimie the 
Magellan arms and reside and marry in 
Spain. He was to be Spanish, not Portu- 
guese, and his endeavors were to be for Spain, 

112 



THE BEGINNING OF THE VOYAGE 

and not for Portugal ; yet the intent of Magel- 
lan's will was frustrated by the very govern- 
ment for which he gave his life. One of the 
executors of this will was Fernan's father-in- 
law, Dom Diego Barbosa, who survived his 
daughter, his son Duarte, who went with 
Magellan and was killed on the voyage, and 
Magellan himself; yet when this old man 
died, in 1525, the crown stepped in and 
wrested his estate from the rightful heirs, 
thus defrauding those who had rendered it 
inestimable service. 

However we may hold Portugal in con- 
tempt for her treatment of Magellan, we 
may also reflect that Spain was no less igno- 
ble — that these two countries, in fact, were 
twin sisters in crime, and always have been. 
The individuals who served them most and 
achieved greatest for them were scantily re- 
warded, or not rewarded at all, in their old 
age being turned out like cattle to die in a 
pasture where sustenance was scarce. 

While Dom Manoel was jealous of Span- 
iards in his own employ, Don Carlos was still 
more jealous of Portuguese in his, and issued 
an order that not more than five should ac- 
company Magellan on his voyage. This was 
because his mind had been poisoned by 
113 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

Portuguese spies, who represented that it was 
Dom Manoel's intention to have so many of 
his subjects on the ships that they could, 
when the proper time came, take them from 
the Spaniards. There were many foreigners 
in the fleet, comprising Genoese, Sicilians, 
Germans, Greeks, French, Flemings, Neapoli- 
tans, Malays, and one Englishman, who was 
the master-gunner of the flag- ship. Even 
when Ruy Faleiro wished to take with him 
his brother Francisco, the king assented only 
on condition that he should be one of the five 
prescribed by him. But many more than 
five went on the expedition, and to their 
presence Magellan owed, perhaps, the fact 
that the fleet was preserved intact when a 
mutiny occurred. 

TAs for the unfortunate Faleiro — to make 
one more reference to the crazy astrologer — 
at the very last he was enjoined from going, 
though he was so generous as to present 
Magellan with a book he had written, con- 
taining original information of great value, 
and which the latter desired. This would in- 
dicate that, notwithstanding his well-known 
moroseness and freaks of temper, he bore no 
ill-will towards his friend Fernan at the last. 
What immediately became of him is un- 
114 



THE BEGINNING OF THE VOYAGE 

certain, but that he remained ashore when 
the fleet set forth is well established. He 
had the temerity to return to Portugal, 
where he was promptly arrested and im- 
prisoned by Dom Manoel. Finally released, 
on intercession of Don Carlos, he returned to 
Seville, where he died in 1523, surviving 
Magellan by two years. ~ 

It is a matter of note that few of those 
directly connected with the outfitting and 
sailing of the fleet survived by many years its 
departure and return. Fatalities attended 
upon it and the voyage almost from its very 
inception ; and even while they were kneeling 
before the altar in the church of Santa Maria 
de la Victoria several of Magellan's captains 
were plotting treason in their hearts. They 
swore an oath of allegiance to him and to the 
king, but within seven months some of them 
were in open mutiny against him, and doing 
their king disservice by opposing his au- 
thority. 

These are the names of the captains, of 
those who sailed out of San Lucar de Bar- 
rameda with their vessels on September 
20, 1 5 19, when, favorable winds assist- 
ing them, their course was shaped for 
the southward. Fernan Magellan himself 
115 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

commanded the Trinidad, as, though not the 
largest ship of the fleet, she was considered 
the stanchest and most seaworthy. From 
her mast-head flew his pennant, and the 
castle-deck, at night, bore a lighted lantern 
for the others to follow. The San Antonio, 
largest craft of the five, had as captain Juan 
de Cartagena, who was later marooned by 
Magellan on account of the sedition he had 
already planned. Next in size was the 
Concepcion, with Gaspar Quesada in com- 
mand, while the Victoria (which alone of all 
the fleet survived the voyage around the 
world) was captained by Luis de Mendoza, 
the armada's treasurer. He had already been 
chided by the king for insolence to his com- 
mander, and the reproof rankled in his heart. 
Last of all, the Santiago, though the small- 
est of the fleet, was commanded by one of 
the most experienced men in the expedition, 
Joao Serrao, whose brother Fernan Magellan 
had rescued in the bay of Malacca. He 
should have had a more important command 
— and, in fact, rose to it a few months later — 
but as a Portuguese, brother of one who was 
then in the Spice Islands, supposedly a ser- 
vant of Dom Manoel, he was an object of 
suspicion. As already mentioned, though 
ii6 



THE BEGINNING OF THE VOYAGE 

the king had ordered the niimber of Portu- 
guese aboard the ships to be limited to five, 
even including the commander, the squadron 
actually sailed with thirty-seven. All the 
pilots were Portuguese, as well as the chief 
cosmographer and the navigators, while the 
gunners all were foreigners ; for in those times, 
as in the present, the Spaniards were poor 
marksmen and unaccustomed to the serving 
of great guns. 

Sixty- two culverins, ten lombards, and ten 
falconets comprised the artillery, and this was 
thought to be a large, even formidable, arma- 
ment. Of the smaller fire-arms then in vogue, 
such as arquebuses, only fifty were taken, for 
the Spaniards had greater confidence in cross- 
bows, of which there were sixty, with three 
hundred and sixty dozen arrows, ten dozen 
javelins, ninety-five dozen darts, two hundred 
pikes, and one thousand lances. Gunpowder 
to the amount of fifty-six hundred pounds was 
on board the various ships, so there was ammu- 
nition in plenty, there being a corresponding 
supply of balls and bullets. The captains were 
all furnished with swords, and one hundred 
suits of armor were taken for them and the foot- 
soldiers, such as corselets, gauntlets, shoulder- 
pieces, grieves, casques, and cuirasses. 
117 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

Few expeditions previously sailing had 
been better furnished with charts, com- 
passes, quadrants, astrolabes, hour-glasses, 
and compass-needles, while articles for bar- 
ter were supplied by the score. There were, 
for example, five hundred pounds of "crys- 
tals," or artificial diamonds, two thousand 
pounds of quicksilver, knives and fish-hooks 
by the gross, and twenty thousand cascabels. 
These last were small bells, which had been 
found favorite objects of barter with the ab- 
origines of America, often commanding more 
than their weight in gold. 

The equipment of the fleet has been shown 
by papers yet extant in the archives of 
Seville, where everything, even to the last 
knife and fish-hook, is set down in detail. 
By these we are informed that Magellan 
was not stinted in his outfit, which cost, 
ships and all, a total of about twenty-five 
thousand dollars. If the king had doubted 
his ability, or suspected his loyalty, would 
he have intrusted him with such a powerful 
armada? That neither King Charles nor 
the Bishop of Burgos faltered in their sup- 
port, through the months of preparation and 
while Magellan was badgered and tempted 
by the King of Portugal, speaks volumes in 
ii8 



THE BEGINNING OF THE VOYAGE 

his favor. But their support was, perforce, 
nugatory after the coast of Spain had 
sHpped out of sight and the vessels were 
tossing on the waves of the Atlantic. 

During the long wait of a month in the 
harbor of San Lucar, Magellan had time to 
instruct his sailors in many things pertain- 
ing to their special duties; and he daily 
drilled his captains, it is said, in the fleet 
formation to be observed when at sea. 
First of all, he cautioned them, he was to 
lead, and the others were to follow, as nearly 
as possible, in prescribed order, the largest 
ship next after the Trinidad^ and so on 
down the list to the little Santiago, which 
came last. 

It seems wonderful that the five ships 
kept together, almost within speaking dis- 
tance of one another, throughout the long 
voyage down the African coast, then across 
to South America; but that they did so 
was owing to the precautions of Magellan, 
who omitted attention to no detail, however 
minute. His ship, he informed his captains, 
would always precede the others if possible, 
especially at night, and they were to follow 
his farol, or lantern, which would be borne 
on the poop of the Trinidad, high above the 
119 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

sea. He had other lights, produced by 
flaming torches made of reeds, first soaked 
and softened in water, then beaten flat and 
dried in the sun. When he wished them to 
veer or tack he would show two of these 
torches besides the farol; three torches 
meant "lower small sails"; four signified 
that all sails were to be taken in; a greater 
number would warn them of shoals, and if 
dangerously near a lombard would be fired. 
Four lights, again, meant ''all sails set full"; 
two indicated that he was about to alter 
his course, and one light was a signal for 
each ship to answer similarly, that he might 
know they were following. 

All the men aboard ship were divided into 
three watches, the first in charge of the 
master, the second in charge of the boat- 
swain, and the third under the boatswain's 
mate. These watches were to stand alter- 
nately, the first to go on at dusk, the second 
at midnight, and the third at dawn, which 
was known as ''the watch of the morning 
star." The next day they were changed, in 
accordance with rules laid down by the India 
house at Seville. 

Within six days the fleet arrived at 
Tenerife, where a tarry was made for wood, 

I2Q 



THE BEGINNING OF THE VOYAGE 

water, and fresh fish. While these supplies 
were being taken on board, a caravel arrived 
from Spain, the master of which brought a 
letter for Magellan from his father-in-law, 
Diego Barbosa. ''Beware, my son, be- 
ware!" was the purport of the letter. ''Keep 
a good watch, for it has come to my knowl- 
edge, from some friends of your captains, 
that if any trouble occurs they will kill 
you!" 

This, however, was no news to Fernan 
Magellan, for he had surmised as much be- 
fore they left Seville. Already, he suspect- 
ed the captain of the San Antonio, Juan de 
Cartagena, of treason, and was keeping 
watch on his actions. He had not thus far 
displayed any irritation over the various 
slurs let fall by several of his under officers, 
and they were encouraged thereby to repeat 
them, with added emphasis, as occasion 
offered; but that they had mistaken their 
man and grievously erred in their judgment, 
they were not long in finding out. Magellan 
had not resented the slights implied in his 
captains' remarks to their crews; but he 
wrote to Diego Barbosa that, be they good 
men or bad men, he feared them not, sever- 
ally or collectively. When the time came 

121 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

they should learn their position and keep 
it; but meanwhile he, Magellan, remember- 
ed only that he was a servant of the king, 
to whose service he had offered his life. 
He concluded with a loving message for his 
wife and son, after chiding Dom Diego play- 
fully for his fears, which, he said, were 
unworthy an hidalgo of his standing. When 
the letter was shown the corregidores of 
Seville, they all agreed that Fernan Magel- 
lan's heart was a stout one, and his charac- 
ter firm. 

''Magellan's captains hated him exceed- 
ingly," says one who made the voyage; 
"though I know not why, unless because 
he was a Portuguese, and they Spaniards." 
Whatever their reasons, and they were 
probably trivial as well as various, their ill- 
nature was not long in showing itself. Soon 
after Tenerife had been left, on a day in 
the first week of October, the San Antonio 
ran under the stern of the flag-ship with a 
demand from her captain as to their course. 
In common with the other craft, she had 
been bobbing about in the wake of the 
flag-ship, sometimes steering southerly, and 
sometimes southwesterly. The seemingly 
erratic course had worn upon the nerves of 

122 



THE BEGINNING OF THE VOYAGE 

Captain Cartagena, who, in rejoinder to the 
pilot's answer that it was south by west, 
asked impatiently why it had been changed. 
When Magellan sent word to Cartagena that 
he was to follow his ship and ask him no 
questions, the latter retorted: ''You should 
have consulted with the captains and pilots. 
It is an error of judgment to keep so near 
the African coast." 

This was a breach of discipline which the 
commander had a good excuse for punish- 
ing at the time; but he kept his temper, 
however, and shouted through his speaking- 
trumpet: ''Back to the line! Error or no, 
you are but to follow my flag by day, and 
my lantern by night, Juan de Cartagena!" 

The San Antonio fell behind, as ordered, 
her captain too surprised to open his mouth ; 
but while he gazed sourly in the direction of 
the Trinidad, it was being borne in upon 
him that perhaps there was a different 
Magellan on board the flag-ship from the 
one he thought he knew. He held his 
peace then, and thereafter for the space 
of many days; but all the time he was 
brooding over the affront to his dignity, 
and speculating upon the manner in which 
he could show his resentment. He had the 
123 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

grim satisfaction of knowing that Magellan's 
course was an error of judgment, which the 
latter himself could not but admit, when, 
between the Cape Verdes and Sierra Leone, 
they encountered twenty days of calm and 
of baffling winds, succeeded, as they neared 
the equator, by quite a month of head- 
winds, squalls, and finally storm.s so fierce 
that the vessels dipped their yard-arms in 
the boiling ocean. 

Ever in the lead was the flag-ship, how- 
ever, with its pennant flying by day, and 
its farol by night gleaming at times steadily, 
again most fitfully. Finally the four lights 
were displayed, which signified ''take in all 
sail," and under bare poles the fleet ran for 
many a night and day, until the equinoctial 
line was reached and passed. Two long 
months of almost continuous rains, the dis- 
consolate sailors experienced in the equa- 
torial region; and they wandered hither and 
yon on the ocean, says one of them. "When 
it rained there was no wind, when the sun 
shone it was calm"; so what did they but 
complain, and place the blame for their sad 
situation upon the commander ? They were 
fearsomely diverted, at times, by great, man- 
eating sharks with terrible teeth, some of 
124 



THE BEGINNING OF THE VOYAGE 

which, after they had mustered up their 
courage, they caught with hooks; "although 
they are not good to eat unless they are 
small, and even then they are not very 
acceptable as food." The time arrived, 
before that voyage was ended, when these 
same sailors would have been very thankful 
for some of the shark-flesh which they cast 
overboard so loathingly. 

In the region of storms and calms they 
were greatly delighted to observe flocks of 
birds sporting about the vessels, some spe- 
cies of which, the writer sagely remarks, 
make no nest, being forever on the wing. 
They have no feet, he says, and hence can 
build no nests; so when the hen -bird is 
ready to lay she deposits her eggs on the 
back of the male, and there they are hatched. 
These birds were probably stormy -petrels, 
since known as "Mother Carey's chickens," 
which, though apparently always in flight, 
go ashore in the breeding season and dig 
deep holes, in which they lay their eggs and 
rear their young. 

While the wonder of the sailors was ex- 
cited by flocks of never-resting birds and 
shoals of flying-fish so dense that they ap- 
peared at a distance like islands, their fears 
125 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

and superstitions were aroused by frequent 
electrical exhibitions about the mast-heads 
of their ships. One night of inky darkness, 
when the wind was howling through the 
rigging of the fleet, and the great seas rush- 
ing past like troops of white-maned horses, 
there appeared about the main-top of the 
flag-ship a star-shaped body like a blazing 
torch. There it stayed for more than two 
hours, with an effulgence so bright that it 
illuminated the ship. When their fears were 
allayed, the sailors recognized in the fiery 
apparition "the holy body of St. Elmo,'' 
which, says one of them, was a blessed con- 
solation, for they were weeping and praying, 
expecting to be lost in the midst of the 
waters. ' ' When that blessed light was about 
to leave us," continues the narrator, ''so 
dazzling was the brightness it cast into our 
eyes that we all remained for many minutes 
as though blinded, and calling for mercy. 
And then, of a truth, when we thought we 
were but dead men, the sea suddenly calmed, 
and was no longer furious." 

Nearly two months in duration, was the 

voyage across the Atlantic from. the coast 

of Africa to that of South America, for it 

was the last week in November when they 

126 



THE BEGINNING OF THE VOYAGE 

first sighted land, off Cape Augustine, not 
far from Pernambuco. Its unusual length 
alarmed even Magellan, who consequently 
placed the crews on short allowance, which 
fact gave rise to a great deal of murmuring. 
Captain Cartagena took advantage of the 
sullen temper of the sailors to point out 
how inefficient was the man whom the king 
had placed over them as commander. Much 
better would it have been, said he, if a 
Spaniard were in command, for then he 
would have known what to do. Presuming 
upon Magellan's complaisance, he one day 
conveyed a studied affront by omitting to 
address him by his proper title of captain- 
general. The king himself had commanded, 
in his letters of instruction to the officials of 
the fleet, that every evening, when the 
weather permitted, the flag-ship should be 
signalled and the captain-general saluted. 
One fine evening the San Antonio sailed 
within hailing distance, and her quarter- 
master, previously instructed by his cap- 
tain, sent the greeting: *'God save you, 
captain of the Trinidad^ and your good 
comxjany." 

Magellan flushed with indignation at this 
classing him with the captains, and imme- 

9 127 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

diately sent word to Cartagena that he must 
be properly addressed in future. The sulky 
Spaniard tartly replied: "I sent my best 
man to salute you, and if that isn't satis- 
factory, another time I'll do so through one 
of my pages!" 

Several days passed, during which he 
failed to salute the flag-ship at all, and as 
Magellan seemed to have ignored the slight, 
when they next met, which was within a 
week, he insulted him to his face. It was 
at a gathering for a court-martial on board 
the Trinidad, at which all the captains had 
assembled. In a general discussion that fol- 
lowed, over the wine and refreshments set 
forth by Magellan, the captain of the San 
Antonio made use of an expression in refer- 
ence to his commander which amazed all 
who heard it. Slow to wrath as he was, 
yet Fernan Magellan had been reflecting 
upon the proper punishment to inflict upon 
his recreant subordinate, and awaiting only 
a fit opportunity. Beyond a doubt it had 
arrived, and leaping upon Cartagena he 
seized him by the throat, exclaiming: '* Now 
you are my prisoner! Men-at-arms, take 
him away to the stocks!" 

Captain Cartagena then saw his mistake, 

128 



THE BEGINNING OF THE VOYAGE 

but too late. His calls for help were ig- 
nored by the captains present; though 
some of them responded later, to their 
sorrow. Struggling • and cursing, he was 
borne away to the stocks and given into 
the keeping of Luis de Mendoza, master of 
the Victoria, while his own ship was cap- 
tained by his contador, or purser, one An- 
tonio de Coca. The prompt action taken 
by Magellan shows that he had planned it 
in advance, and Cartagena's subsequent 
treason exculpates him from any charge of 
premature or undue severity. 



IX 

MURDER AND MUTINY 
1520 

ALTHOUGH the coast of South America 
iVwas fairly well known before Magel- 
lan arrived off Cape St. Augustine, several 
Spanish and Portuguese navigators having 
explored it as far south as the mouth of the 
great river, La Plata, he was somewhat in 
doubt as to his exact position, notwith- 
standing his charts and his pilots. He 
did not venture to land before the second 
week in December, on the 13th of that 
month entering the magnificent harbor of 
Rio Janeiro. 

This bay of the ''River of January," so 
called from having been discovered by white 
men on the first day of the first month in 
the year, had been several years known to 
Europeans when Magellan entered it; yet 
the chief narrator of his voyage, Antonio 
Pigafetta, describes it and the people found 
130 



MURDER AND MUTINY 

there as if it were then for the first time 
seen. A pilot of the fleet, in fact, one Juan 
Carvalho, had been on the coast before, and 
had resided with the Indians of Rio for more 
than four years. He had with him at the 
time a son whose mother was an Indian 
woman, and who was large enough to take 
part in the fights waged by the voyagers 
later, in the Philippines. 

Thanks to Juan Carvalho and his half- 
breed son, the fleet was well supplied with 
fresh provisions, of which the sailors stood 
in need, and a friendly intercourse was kept 
up with the natives throughout the stay. 
These provisions were in the shape of fowls, 
pineapples, and batatas, or sweet -potatoes. 
Of these the natives had more than sufficient 
for their needs, and with true savage gener- 
osity gave to the white men all their surplus. 
''For a fish-hook or a knife," says the 
Chevalier Pigafetta, ''they gave me five or 
six chickens; for a comb a brace of geese; 
for a bell a large basketful of potatoes ; and 
for a small mirror, or pair of scissors, as 
many fish as would sustain ten men many 
days." 

And he continues, evidently borrowing 
some of his descriptive material from Ves- 
131 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

pucci (who was here several years before) : 
"The natives, though they go naked, both 
men and women as well as children, and 
live more like beasts than anything else, 
often reach the age of one hundred and 
twenty-five to one hundred and forty years. 
They live in certain long houses which they 
call hoii [bohio], and sleep in cotton nets 
called amache [hammocks]. They have boats 
also, called canoas, each made from a single 
great tree, hollowed out by the use of stone 
axes, for those people employ stone as we 
do iron, which they do not possess. They 
paddle with blades like the shovels of a 
furnace, and thus, black, naked, and shorn, 
they resemble the inhabitants of the Stygian 
marsh. 

"The men and women there are as well- 
proportioned as we are. They eat the flesh 
of their enemies, not because it is good, but 
because it is their established custom. That 
custom, which is mutual (between them and 
their enemies), was begun, it is said, by an 
old woman whose only son was killed by 
an enemy. Some days later that old wom- 
an's friends captured one of the tribe who 
had killed her son, and took him to her hut. 
Seeing him, and remembering her son, she 
132 



MURDER AND MUTINY 

ran fiercely upon and bit him in the shoulder, 
taking out a mouthful. Thus the custom 
originated. . . . But these cannibals do not 
eat the bodies all at once. Each one cuts 
off a piece and carries it to his hut, where 
he smokes it over a fire. Then every week 
he cuts off a small bit, which he eats with 
his other food, to remind him of his foes." * 
If the natives of Brazil practised cannibal- 
ism, it was in a "ritual" manner, as a sort 
of religious custom. To the Spaniards they 
appeared very ludicrous, rather than fierce 
and alarming, for many of them were gro- 
tesquely painted in vivid colors, and some, 
though otherwise naked, wore fantastic 
girdles of parrots' feathers, with humps on 
their hips made from the longest plumes, 
which gave them a ridiculous appearance. 
After having been assured by Pilot Carvalho 
that the new arrivals meant them no harm, 
the natives capered about like monkeys, 
and a rainfall occurring about that time 

^ Pigafetta confesses that he obtained this informa- 
tion from the pilot, Juan Carvalho, who "came with 
us, and who had lived in that land four years"; so it 
may be taken with "a grain of salt." The story re- 
sembles that told by Vespucci, and also by Columbus, 
of the cannibals found by them in the West Indies, in 
the Lesser Antilles of which some Caribs still reside. 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

(which they had prayed for in vain during 
many weeks), they ascribed it to the advent 
of the strangers, and revered them accord- 
ingly. 

It was not the first time that the cruel 
Spaniards, whose dispositions were anything 
but angelic or divine, had been taken for 
heavenly visitants; but in this instance the 
natives suffered no rude awakening by the 
exercise, on their visitors' part, of their 
superior skill in committing deeds of blood 
and cruelty. Magellan was too himiane 
towards the natives of whatever land he 
encountered to suit the sanguinary Span- 
iards; nor was he mercenary enough to 
satisfy their desire for the acquisition of 
treasure. Many a time they denounced 
him, among themselves, for his leniency, 
and lamented his indifference to gold. 

These natives had no gold, but their 
fresh provisions were acceptable, especially 
the flesh of the peccaries, or wild hogs, 
which they killed in the forests with lances 
and brought to the fleet by the score. They 
were at first timid about going on board the 
ships, and queried among themselves as to 
the relation existing between the great 
vessels and the small boats, saying that the 
134 



MURDER AND MUTINY 

latter must be the children of the former, 
as they were under their constant protec- 
tion. When at last they had overcome their 
timidity, they swarmed aboard the vessels 
in great numbers, looking for articles which 
they needed most and consequently attached 
the highest value to, such as pins and 
needles, scissors, and looking-glasses. 

One day a comely but naked young 
woman came to the flag-ship alone, and 
while wandering wonderingly about saw a 
long, sharp nail lying on the floor of the 
captain-general's cabin. She looked at it 
admiringly, and, when she thought Magellan 
was not observing her, suddenly stooped 
over, picked it up, and thrust it into her 
hair. Then she immediately fled, as if 
afraid it might be taken from her by force. 
This maiden was described as a ** comely 
woman," for she was shapely and fair-com- 
plexioned, with long, black hair and spark- 
ling eyes; but allowance must be made for 
a peculiar deformity, self-inflicted, which at 
first glance transformed her into a most 
loathsome object. That is, like many others 
of her tribe, she had a long slit in her lower 
lip, in which was inserted a disk -shaped 
pebble as big as a walnut. 
135 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

So hospitable were these, the first people 
Magellan encountered in America, that they 
built him a big hohio, or native house, many 
feet in length, and roofing it with thatch of 
palm-leaves, half filled it with precious 
Brazil-wood, in order to induce him to 
remain. Two weeks, however, was all he 
thought he could spare, for the voyage 
ahead was to be long, and he wished to get 
to winter quarters before the inclement 
weather set in. Refreshed and heartened 
by their stay, the voyagers sailed on south- 
wardly again, their next tarrying-place being 
in the great estuary known as the Rio de la 
Plata, or River of Silver. Little, if any, 
silver has been found in the region drained 
by the vast Plata system, but thus it was 
named by its discoverer, from a tradition 
that the Indians near its headwaters were 
possessed of great treasure in that metal. 

On its right bank, four years before (in 
1516), Juan de Solis, a great explorer in the 
service of Spain, had been killed (and some 
say eaten) by the Indians, who attacked 
him and his men as they were ascending the 
river in small boats. The explorer fought 
like a lion; but his courage was of no avail, 
for a poisoned arrow between the shoulders 
136 



MURDER AND MUTINY 

laid him low. The memory of this disaster 
was still fresh with the pilots, and they 
cautioned Magellan against taking any risks 
on the River of Silver. 

At the time the lamented Solis was killed 
he was chief pilot (piloto-mayor) of Spain. 
Ten years after his death another of that 
rank (who, in fact, was piloto-mayor at 
Seville while Magellan was outfitting his 
fleet) entered and explored the Plata. This 
was Sebastian Cabot, who was then follow- 
ing in the wake of Magellan with the intent 
of reaching the Moluccas by the route his 
predecessor had discovered. His experiences 
were similar to Magellan's, for he suffered 
from shipwreck in his fleet, from lack of 
provisions, and from mutiny. But, unlike 
Magellan, he had not the courage to continue 
in the face of difficulties no greater than the 
former encountered, and after wasting four 
or five years in and near the River of Silver, 
returned to Spain in disgrace. 

Not far from the site of the present great 
city of Buenos Ayres, off in the estuary, 
Magellan anchored his fleet and sent boats 
ashore in search of provisions. The crews 
were warned against trusting the slayers of 
Juan de Solis, who had enticed him into 
137 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

their lairs by pretending to retreat, then 
turning upon him when unable to extricate 
himself from the jungle. This warning may 
have deterred them from following the 
natives they saw on the bank, who fled 
in evident alarm, "and in fleeing they took 
so large a step that with all our running 
and jumping we could not overtake them." 
Perhaps the Spaniards did not care to over- 
take the Indians, who were certainly canihali, 
or cannibals, and ate human flesh. 

Finding that they were not pursued as 
though with relish for a fight, the chief of 
the runaways returned to the shore and 
indicated by signs that he desired to go on 
board the flag- ship, where, as his costume 
consisted solely of a goat-skin cloak, Magel- 
lan gave him a shirt of gayly colored cotton. 
He was very uncouth, even for a savage, 
with vile manners, and a voice like a bull. 
He was suspicious, also, and early the 
following morning, finding himself alone in 
the midst of strangers, leaped into his canoe 
and paddled ashore. 

It has been supposed that, even thus 

early in his voyage, Magellan was looking 

for a strait, or passage, from one ocean to 

the other, as he partially explored the great 

138 



MURDER AND MUTINY 

estuary of La Plata before finally setting 
sail again for the southward. Off the coast 
a few leagues he sighted two islands which, 
on close approach, were seen to be alive 
with sea-birds ''resembling geese," and 
which were probably penguins. Many were 
killed and skinned for food, and in a few 
hours' time the sailors procured five boat- 
loads of them. Sea-wolves, also, they saw, 
"which would have been very fierce, if they 
had had legs to run." These were seals, or 
sea-lions, and, like the wild-fowl, procured 
their sustenance in the ocean; but the 
Spaniards feared them as "man-eaters," and 
were very glad when they had left the islands 
in the distance. 

The farther southward they sailed the 
greater became the cold, for by this time 
the southern winter was upon them. Dur- 
ing one of the many fierce gales that assailed 
the fleet two of the flag-ship's cables parted, 
as she lay at anchor in an open bay, and she 
barely escaped the rocks of a lee - shore. 
After this, succeeding to a three-days' calm, 
came another terrible storm, in which the 
forecastles of all the ships were carried 
away, and the "holy body of St. Elmo" 
again appeared, this time accompanied by 
139 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

two other apparitions of like character, 
which were called by the sailors Santa Clara 
and St. Nicholas. As these celestial beings 
enveloped in fire appeared at the mastheads, 
the storm suddenly ceased, and all the 
seamen fell upon their knees in prayer, 
vowing pilgrimages to a holy shrine if per- 
mitted to return in safety to their homes. 

A winter on the coast of Patagonia, which 
Magellan had now reached, was to be the 
experience of the Spaniards, unless they 
chose the alternative of returning on their 
tracks. This latter course Magellan would 
not for a moment entertain, so a port was 
sought in which the fleet could be safely 
moored, and was found in that of St. Julian, 
just above the 50th degree of south lati- 
tude. It is still on the map by the name 
Magellan bestowed upon it. Here, on the 
last day of March, 1520, the fleet was brought 
to anchor, and, in a sheltered harbor abound- 
ing in fish, preparations were made to pass 
the winter of the southern latitudes. The 
shores were sloping and pleasant as compared 
with the savage-looking coast they had but 
recently passed, and there was suflicient 
wood and water to supply the necessities 
of the ships. 

140 



MURDER AND MUTINY 

Though fish were abundant in the bay, 
and the provisions on board the fleet were 
sufficient for a long time to come, still, with 
a winter of inaction ahead of him and his 
voyage not half accomplished, the prudent 
Magellan reduced the seamen's rations as 
soon as the anchors were dropped. 

At once there went up a great chorus of 
protest, in which, we may be sure, the dis- 
affected captains heartily joined. Merely 
because, the seamen said, the voyage had 
been commenced at the wrong season of 
the year, and on account of their com- 
mander's bad reckoning, they must lie up 
for five or six months, was no reason they 
themiselves should be made to suffer. They 
should turn about and go home, instead of 
wasting time in a wilderness of ice and 
snow, as helpless as a bear in a hollow tree. 
^*Back to Spain! Back to Spain!" became 
the cry ; but Magellan would not heed it. 

"Never will I return," he said, in reply to 
an importunate officer — ''never, until I have 
accomplished the intent of this voyage. It 
was undertaken at the orders of my lord the 
king, who hath chosen me to command, 
above all others; and he shall not be disap- 
pointed! No, my men, we shall not go back. 
141 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

Here will we stay — here, till the coming of 
spring unlocks the icy fetters and subdues 
the rigors of winter. Already have we pene- 
trated farther south than any other naviga- 
tors — even twelve or thirteen degrees near- 
er the antarctic pole than lies the Cape of 
Good Hope. And having gained so much, 
shall we lose it all, for lack of courage to 
persist a little longer ? 

"I marvel that Castilians, who conquered 
the Arab Moors and discovered the way to 
America, should be guilty of such weakness. 
As for me, though I be no Castilian, and 
though I have a wife and son awaiting me 
in Seville, never shall that city see me until 
I return triumphant! For gold I care not; 
for fame I care not; but my lord and king 
hath intrusted me with this mighty mission, 
and accomplish, it I shall! So, my men, 
though ye may marvel that I should seek, 
towards the southern pole, the strait or 
passage from the Atlantic to the great 
South Sea — and thus far have sought it 
vainly — yet find it we shall, and by means 
of it enter upon that voyage to the Islands 
of Spices." 

The seamen were silenced for a time, 
though far from satisfied. When the three 
142 



MURDER AND MUTINY 

faithless captains, Juan de Cartagena, Luis 
de Mendoza, and Gaspar de Quesada, called 
upon their crews to mutiny, there was im- 
mediate response. It was April ist, 1520. 
In the middle watch of the night, the cap- 
tain of the San Antonio, Alvaro de Mes- 
quita, who had superseded both Cartagena 
and Coca (a kinsman of the captain-gen- 
eral), heard a disturbance on deck and 
hastened from his cabin. He was at once 
confronted by Cartagena, and a body of men 
about thirty in number, armed to the teeth. 
While confused, and unable to recognize his 
assailants in the darkness, Mesquita was 
brought to his knees, and at the point of the 
sword made to surrender. Hearing a scuffle, 
his boatswain, Juan de Lorriaga, came 
running up, at the same time blowing his 
whistle for the crew to assemble. 

''This fool may foil our work," hissed 
Quesada, "if we allow him to live," and 
springing upon him with a dagger, stabbed 
him in the throat. He fell, dying, to the 
deck, and while his life-blood ebbed away 
the mutineers hastened to secure the crew. 
Having done this, they ordered all the cannon 
loaded and the vessel cleared for action. 
Then, to propitiate the crew, they brought 
143 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

up bread and wine from below, which, with 
other provisions, they dispensed with lavish 
hand. 

Thus the largest ship of the fleet was won. 
The Concepcion, commanded by Quesada, 
was of course already in the hands of the 
enemy, while the Victoria captained by Luis 
de Mendoza, treasurer of the armada (and, 
like Cartagena, jealous of Magellan), at once 
declared against the captain-general. Three 
ships were in revolt, and only two were left 
to Magellan : the Trinidad, which he himself 
commanded, and the little Santiago, under 
Serrao, the Portuguese. Half the number 
of men comprising his crew were of his own 
nationality, and all were loyal to Magellan. 

What a situation confronted Magellan on 
the morning of April 2d. So quietly had 
the transfer of authority on board the 
three ships taken place, that he was un- 
aware of what had occurred, until, send- 
ing an order to the San Antonio to go 
ashore and careen, his boat's crew was met 
by a refusal to obey. They found the ship's 
cannon pointed at them, and a harsh voice 
shouted: "Keep off! This is Admiral Car- 
tagena's flag- ship. Take that to the Por- 
tuguese usurper!" 

144 



MURDER AND MUTINY 

In all haste, then, the boat's crew rowed 
back to the flag-ship with the evil news, 
which Magellan received quite calmly, only 
remarking: "Row round among the fleet, 
and find for whom they declare, as I would 
like to know how many are against me." 

''For the king — and ourselves," was the 
answer returned from every vessel save the 
Santiago, when hailed and asked the crucial 
question. 

"Not quite the answer I would have," 
observed Magellan, quietly. "How great a 
difference one word would make. If, now, 
it were only ' For the king and Magellan ' — 
as it should be. And as it will be, sooth, 
before the sun goes down!" 

He was not only undismayed by the perils 
of that desperate situation, but he seemed 
elated at the prospect of something worthy 
of his highest efforts. His skill and cunning 
were to be matched against the skill and 
cunning of the mutineers, and woe upon the 
ones that failed! He asked no odds — they 
surely were against him — and in fighting the 
enemy he chose the very weapons they had 
used against himself: duplicity and finesse. 
Choosing the Victoria as the most vulnerable 
vessel in control of the mutineers, he sent a 
145 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

letter to her captain, Luis de Mendoza, in- 
viting him to a conference on the flag-ship. 
He sent it by the hands of a trusted Heuten- 
ant, Gonzalo Espinosa, who received private 
instructions before he left the ship. At the 
same time Espinosa departed on his mission, 
another boat was made ready and filled with 
picked men in charge of Magellan's brother- 
in-law, Duarte Barbosa. He had his in- 
structions, also, which he followed to the 
letter. Magellan's was the brain that guided 
the weapons, which these two sent home to 
the heart of the foe. 

Mendoza, as Cartagena once had done, 
made the mistake of crediting Fernan Magel- 
lan with a milder disposition than he really 
had. He allowed Espinosa to come on board 
his ship, and sneeringly took the letter to 
read it. Waiting, as if for an answer, 
Espinosa sidled up to Mendoza, drew a 
dagger from his girdle, and in a flash sank 
it in his breast. The victim of Magellan's 
cunning and Espinosa 's intrepidity sank to 
the deck and expired. Instantly, while 
Mendoza 's crew stood appalled and helpless, 
Duarte Barbosa led his men over the Vic- 
toria's rail, and encircled Espinosa with a 
bristling array of pikes and lances. 
146 



MURDER AND MUTINY 

''For whom do ye declare?" he shouted to 
the crew. ''For the king and — " 

' ' Magellan ! ' ' they cried with a will. ' ' The 
king and his admiral, Fernan Magellan!" 

"Then up with this ensign, which is 
Magellan's," rejoined Barbosa; "and up with 
the anchor, too, for we sail to the entrance of 
the port, there to take our stand beside the 
admiral's ship, lest the mutineers escape." 

The Trinidad was already in motion, sail- 
ing towards the harbor-mouth, where she 
was soon joined by the Santiago and the Vic- 
toria. There they formed an avenging triad, 
the flag-ship in the centre, and a consort on 
each side of her. Instead of two ships, to 
three against him, Magellan now had three 
to two; and though in tonnage and guns his 
ships may have been inferior, he possessed 
the great advantage of having outwitted the 
conspirators at their own game, which was 
now in his hands, to be played to its ending, 
in their discomfiture and punishment. 



PATAGONIA AND THE GIANTS 

1520 

THE long day came to an end, with the 
three ships still guarding the entrance 
to the bay. Magellan had not made good 
his boast that he would overcome the muti- 
neers before sundown ; but it was because he 
desired to do so without unnecessary shed- 
ding of blood. Stratagem was safer to adopt 
than open attack, he reasoned, and about 
sunset he sent a sailor to the San Antonio in 
a skiff. The man was to appear as a fugitive 
from Magellan's severity, and claim protec- 
tion of the mutineers. And the scheme suc- 
ceeded admirably, for he was received with 
open arms, as a deserter from the captain- 
general's ship. No suspicions were aroused, 
and he was sent forward to join the crew; 
but what he was commissioned to do by his 
commander appeared in due time. 

Some time after midnight, the watch aboard 
148 



PATAGONIA AND THE GIANTS 

the flag-ship reported the San Antonio bear- 
ing down rapidly upon them. No sails were 
set, they said, but she was drifting with the 
current. All were puzzled, save Magellan, 
who had already given orders to clear the 
ship for action, and sent men into the main- 
tops with darts, lances, and muskets. He 
knew the cause of the San Antonio's erratic 
action in drifting directly to her doom, for 
the fugitive sailor had merely obeyed his 
instructions, which were to cut her cables. 
The mutineers would not come out vol- 
untarily to engage him, so Magellan had 
forced them out, and herein lay his strat- 
egy, which was beyond the understanding 
of his enemies, and caused them bewilder- 
ment. 

The San Antonio was the larger ship of the 
two — as we know — and she was manned by 
men made desperate by the assurance that 
short shrift would be theirs if they were 
taken. And yet the Trinidad, plus her 
commander, by far outclassed her sister 
vessel, for his great moral force alone made 
her preponderant. She was prepared, also, 
while the mutineer craft was not, and when 
her cannon belched forth their contents, and 
her sturdy crew grappled, then boarded the 
149 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

San Antonio like an avalanche, all resistance 
was at an end immediately. 

The cry went up all over the ship : ' ' For 
the king and for Magellan," and was heard 
by the crew of the Concepcion, who promptly 
surrendered to the captains of the Santiago 
and Victoria. They had laid their vessels 
alongside, with the helpless craft between 
them, which if she had resisted, would have 
been blown out of the water. 

All these events took place quickly, and 
in the darkness, which was dispelled at in- 
tervals only by the flash of gun-fire and 
flicker of torches. The mutiny was crushed 
out, with the loss to Magellan of but a single 
man; the mutineers, only, remained to be 
dealt with, and were hunted down relent- 
lessly. Quesada and Cartagena were put in 
irons, and at dawn was held a drum-head 
court-martial. Forty men, including the 
ringleaders mentioned, were found guilty of 
treason, and sentenced to death. That 
number was one- sixth the total of the fleet, 
and Magellan could ill spare them, were he 
to continue the voyage; so nearly all were 
conditionally pardoned. All but Cartagena, 
Mendoza, Quesada, and a priest named 
Pedro Sanchez. Mendoza had already paid 



PATAGONIA AND THE GIANTS 

the dread penalty of his crime, but a further 
example was to be made of him by indignities 
offered his remains. His body was taken 
ashore, where it w^as drawn and quartered 
and hung up on poles. 

Captain Quesada was declared guilty, not 
only of treason, but of murder, having given 
the boatswain Lorriaga a wound which 
caused his death. He too was taken on 
shore, where, in full sight of his comrades, 
he was beheaded by his servant, Luis de 
Molino, who had been pardoned on condition 
that he would act as executioner. Quesada 's 
body was quartered and the gory remains 
hung on a gibbet, which, together with 
bones supposed to be those of the unfortu- 
nate mutineers, was discovered fifty - eight 
years later, by Sir Francis Drake, when on 
his voyage around the world. 

When Magellan sailed away from Spain, 
it was with special power from the emperor 
of **rope and knife" over all his subjects 
serving in the fleet. Hence his punishments 
did not exceed the letter of his authority, nor 
the spirit of it, as understood in that age. 
He could hang, or cut the throats of any 
persons resisting his authority; and that he 
confined himself to putting to death only 
151 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

two of the several score who mutinied 
against him, is a remarkable exhibition of 
leniency. 

The punishments he had inflicted, how- 
ever, did not end there, for yet alive and re- 
bellious was the ringleader of the conspiracy, 
Juan de Cartagena. Whether or not Magel- 
lan feared to inflict the extreme penalty upon 
Cartagena, on account of his having been a 
special favorite of King Charles, at least he 
did not do so. Perhaps, though, what he 
did was worse than hanging this miserable 
wretch outright, for he sentenced him, in 
company with the priest, Pedro Sanchez, to 
be marooned, at the departure of the fleet. 
He was kept a prisoner on board ship during 
the stay at San Julian, and then left on that 
desolate shore, well provided with wine, 
provisions, and clothing, to whatever fate 
he might encounter. 

Glancing ahead a few months, we may note 
that the fleet departed from San Julian the 
last week in August, two weeks before which 
date the mutineers were put on shore and 
left in solitude. Two months later the 
crew of the San Antonio mutinied in a body, 
this time successfully, and returned to Spain 
with the ship. This event took place in the 
152 



PATAGONIA AND THE GIANTS 

Strait of Magellan, whence they intended, it 
is believed, to retrace their route northward- 
ly to Port Julian, pick up their former com- 
rades, and sail with them direct to Spain. 
But, strange to relate, there is no further 
mention, in any existing annals that have 
yet been found, of the unfortunate Carta- 
gena and Sanchez. The India House of 
Seville passed a resolution to fit out a ship 
for their rescue; but there is no record that 
it ever sailed, and the probability is that 
Spanish indifference and shiftlessness al- 
lowed these poor wretches to perish. 

The marooning of these men was equiva- 
lent to a death sentence, with the barest 
chance of a reprieve — which probably never 
came. Their terrible experience was dupli- 
cated some ten years later by that of three 
men who were marooned on the coast of 
Brazil by Sebastian Cabot; but two of 
these eventually escaped and returned to 
Spain, where they brought suit against their 
oppressor, and made him much trouble. 
Forty of Magellan's mutineers were pardon- 
ed by him, after having been kept in chains 
several months, during which time they 
relieved each other at the pumps, careened 
and calked the ships, and almost wore 
153 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

themselves out performing the labors as- 
signed them by their master. 

It was in this light, indeed, that they 
viewed him now : as a master whose slightest 
wish was to be obeyed. There was no longer 
any doubt as to his dominance, as to his 
will-power, and terrible energy in punishing 
crime, when he chose to exert it. Ordinari- 
ly pleasant, and accessible to all, Magellan 
would have been a favorite with the Span- 
iards had he been of their own nationality; 
but they could never forget that he was a 
Portuguese. They were more incensed than 
ever, but futilely so, when he appointed, in 
place of Spaniards, Portuguese captains to 
command the ships. 

After a while there were but four vessels 
composing the fleet, for the Santiago was 
lost when on an exploring tour, in the month 
of May: Serrao, the Portuguese who com- 
manded her, was then given the Concepcion; 
Alvaro de Mesquita received the San Antonio 
(which he captained when the mutineers 
deposed him) ; and the Victoria was assigned 
to Duarte Barbosa. Thus, eventually, all 
the ships came under the command of 
Magellan's own countrymen, one of whom 
was his cousin, and the other his brother-in- 
154 



PATAGONIA AND THE GIANTS 

law. " A family party, ' ' the Spaniards sneer- 
ingly styled the arrangement ; but they dared 
not say it openly at that time. 

It was in the month of May, and the first 
week, that the Santiago set out on the cruise 
that ended in her being wrecked. The win- 
ter weather was still too inclement to allow 
of an extended voyage, so Magellan sent 
Serrao down the coast with instructions to 
inspect such harbors and rivers as he might 
discover. He was an experienced com- 
mander, stanch and true, bound to Magel- 
lan by no common ties of friendship, and 
thoroughly reliable. 

Little did Magellan anticipate disaster 
when the Santiago sailed out of Port Julian 
and disappeared behind a headland shutting 
out the open ocean. She made her way 
southward, and about sixty miles from her 
port of departure found a large river, which 
Serrao named the Santa Cruz. Fish and 
sea-wolves, or seals, were so numerous in 
the waters there that the Spaniards loaded 
their boat with them, passing a week thus 
engaged before they went farther. Not far 
south of the river they were caught in 
a gale which drove their vessel aground 
so forcibly that they could not get her 
155 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

off before the seas had pounded her to 
pieces. 

They escaped to shore with Httle clothing 
and no provisions, where they found them- 
selves in a barren, inhospitable country, with 
a river miles in width, and a pathless wilder- 
ness between them and the port they had 
left a few weeks before. They built a raft, 
and finally crossed the river, from the left 
bank of which they sent two of their number 
to seek Port Julian. These two were eleven 
days on the way, subsisting meanwhile upon 
such shell-fish as they found on the shore, 
and arrived at the port in a terrible condi- 
tion of exhaustion and emaciation. 

A relief party was immediately organized 
and sent out by Magellan, which found the 
survivors of the wreck nearly one hundred 
miles distant from San Julian, and almost 
dead from starvation. They were brought 
back by a journey of easy stages, and soon 
after Magellan despatched another search 
expedition, this time by land, which was as 
barren of results as the other. Four sailors, 
selected from those who had been placed in 
irons as mutineers, were released on condi- 
tion that they should penetrate to a dis- 
tance of at least a himdred miles from the 
156 



PATAGONIA AND THE GIANTS 

coast, and on the highest mount they should 
discover erect a cross, as evidence of posses- 
sion by the King of Spain. They set out 
joyously, glad of an opportunity to prove 
their loyalty to the captain-general; but 
after struggling several days against almost 
insuperable obstacles, returned with the 
information that the country was not only 
lacking in resources, but absolutely un- 
traversable. They succeeded, however, in 
gaining the summit of a high hill, upon 
which they planted the cross, as directed, 
naming it Monte Crista, or the Mount of 
Christ. 

The sailor - explorers also reported the 
country as uninhabited, and the experience 
of Magellan and his people in the harbor of 
Port Julian would seem to have confirmed 
that impression, for up to that time they 
had not seen a single native. But one day, 
about four months after their arrival there, 
they were astonished, and not a little star- 
tled, by the apparition of a gigantic warrior, 
with a short, heavy bow in one hand, and a 
bunch of feathered arrows in the other. He 
had evidently observed the fleet before his 
appearance upon the ridge, where he began 
to dance vigorously, howling or singing, and 
157 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

throwing dust upon his head. Magellan did 
not know how to take these demonstrations 
at first, but finally concluded aright, that 
they were meant as tokens of amity, and 
sent one of his men to imitate his motions: 
to dance when he danced, and howl when 
he howled. 

The sailor did as directed, and then ensued 
a most amusing exhibition, in which the 
giant and the Spaniard were the sole per- 
formers. At first sight of the sailor the 
giant paused in astonishment and alarm, 
but seeing him imitate his own actions he 
began to dance again, with redoubled energy. 
As the two approached, they capered about 
each other in a wide circle, gradually ap- 
proaching, until at last they met and em- 
braced. It had been a sore trial for the 
poor seaman, for how did he know but that 
the giant meant to slay and eat him, when 
they met? He stood his ground manfully, 
however, for he too was one of the pardoned 
mutineers and wished to retrieve himself in 
his captain's estimation; and he was, more- 
over, encouraged by the cries and laughter 
of his comrades on the fleet and ashore, who 
were convulsed with merriment at the 
ludicrous manoeuvres. This was the first 
158 



PATAGONIA AND THE GIANTS 

relief they had experienced from the dread 
monotony of soHtude and storm by which 
they were environed, and they welcomed it 
with tumultuous hilarity. 

Everybody concerned was in a condition 
of good-humored jollity by the time the 
triumphant sailor and his prize boarded the 
flag-ship, and there was great rivalry as to 
who would show the most attention to the 
giant Patagonian. He was, in truth, over- 
whelmed with attentions, and, extremely 
puzzled by this warm reception, inquired 
by signs if the strangers had not dropped 
down from the sky. They hastened to 
assure him of their celestial origin, but the 
good-natured giant was still puzzled (as he 
indicated by signs) at the small size of the 
men, and the magnitude of their ships. 
Compared with this barbarian, indeed, the 
foreigners were like pygmies, for scarce a 
man aboard ship stood higher than his 
waist-belt, says the Chevalier Pigafetta.* 

''His face was very large," continues the 
chevalier, ''and painted red all over, except 

^ While in the main correct, Pigafetta cannot be 
followed implicitly. As, for instance, he first speaks 
of the giant as naked, then elaborately describes his 
costume of skins. 

159 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

that around the eyes were yellow circles, and 
two heart-shaped ■ daubs of the same color 
on his cheeks. He was dressed in the skins 
of animals, sewn together. The animal from 
which these skins were derived has a head 
and ears as large as those of a mule, a neck 
and body like those of a camel, legs like 
a deer's, and tail of a horse, like which 
it neighs — and that land has many of 
them." 

This animal, of course, was the guanaco, 
which was then, or soon after, seen by Euro- 
peans for the first time. The first rude 
drawing of the llama, so nearly allied to the 
guanaco, was shown Balboa about nine years 
previously, but the beast itself was not seen 
by white men until ten years later. Soon 
after the. giant had been allowed to go 
ashore a body of natives appeared, among 
them some women, leading several guanacos 
by leathern halters. They had trained them, 
it seemed, to serve as beasts of burden, as 
the Peruvians trained the llamas. They 
were wont to capture them when young, 
and "when those people wish to catch some 
of those animals, they tie one of these young 
ones to a bush. Thereupon, the large ones 
come to play with the little ones, and the 
i6o 




A DESCENDANT OF THE PATAGONIAN GIANTS 



PATAGONIA AND THE GIANTS 

natives kill them from their hiding-places, 
with their arrows." 

The first Patagonians encountered by 
Magellan were evidently nomads, roaming 
about in search of sustenance. As he has 
the honor of being the first European to 
discover them, so he was the first to name 
them : ' ' Patagones, ' ' (clumsy-footed) , because, 
in addition to having very large feet (as 
gigantes, or giants, might be supposed to 
have), they wrapped them in guanaco-skins, 
which made the size abnormal. We know 
now that while above the average stature 
of man, the Patagonians are not the giants, 
quite, described by the early explorers, 
though many of them are more than six 
feet in height. 

To recur to the giant lured by the sailor 
on board the ship : He was so overcome by 
the many strange things he saw, and the 
various gifts he received, that he wandered 
about in a condition of dazed astonishment. 
After he had been regaled with the best the 
fleet afforded, such as preserved fruit and 
wines, he was presented with some of the 
toys which had been brought from Spain 
for traffic with the natives. He was espe- 
cially delighted with the cascabels (which 
i6i 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

were also called hawk-bells, and fashioned 
something like the old-fashioned sleigh-bell), 
and as Magellan had many hundreds of them 
they were liberally bestowed upon the giant. 

As he went about jingling his cascabels, 
and in open-mouthed wonder admiring the 
ship and its contents, he was suddenly con- 
fronted with a large steel mirror. Seeing a 
duplicate of his fierce and savage-looking 
self for the first time in his life — save as 
reflected in the surface of some placid lake, 
perchance — he leaped backward with a cry 
of affright, and so suddenly as to topple over 
four or five of the curious sailors who had 
been following him around in crowds, close 
upon his heels. It is hard to say who were 
most affronted: the terrified giant, or the 
overturned seamen, who rose from the deck 
rubbing their bruised limbs and bodies, and 
muttering words which, if their visitor could 
have understood them, might not have been 
considered by him complimentary. 

''Juan Gigante'' (John the Giant) as he 
was called by his new friends, was greatly 
pleased with the small mirror which was 
given him as a solace for his fright in look- 
ing into the large one, and entertained the 
crew by taking a barbed arrow from the 
162 



PATAGONIA AND THE GIANTS 

bunch and slipping it down his throat, then 
withdrawing it again, without any evil con- 
sequences to himself. This feat he evidently 
considered quite wonderful, as it certainly 
was; and it made such an impression upon 
the spectators that when, finally, he was 
sent ashore with four armed men as an es- 
cort, it was with rounds of lusty "bravos" 
ringing in his ears. 



XI 

THE LONG-SOUGHT STRAIT 
1520 

JOHN THE GIANT quickly found some 
others of his fellow-countrymen and 
women, whom he evidently told of the good 
treatment he had received, as they came 
swarming to the shore. Like him they were 
half naked and altogether savage, with 
painted faces, skin-covered feet, and of gi- 
gantic size. The women were not so tall as 
the men, but broader across the shoulders, 
and very corpulent. They were more timid 
than the warriors, and it would have been 
better for the latter if they had been less 
bold, for there was no longer the novelty 
about them that proved so attractive at 
the arrival of the first Patagonian, and 
which shielded him from harm. 

The natural instincts of the Spaniards and 
Portuguese were beginning to assert them- 
selves, dominant over everything else being 
164 



THE LONG-SOUGHT STRAIT 

rapacity and covetousness. They implored 
Magellan to send out into the country to 
seek the village or camp of these people, 
which might perhaps be fotmd worth de- 
spoiling. So he organized and sent forth a 
small party, which, under guidance of John 
the Giant, climbed the hills enclosing the 
harbor, and disappeared in a dense and 
pathless forest. After hours of toilful travel 
the white men arrived at a long bohio, or 
hut, roofed with guanaco-skins, and this, the 
giant assured them, was the only village 
they possessed. One hut, and that contain- 
ing absolutely nothing of value to the Euro- 
peans, was all they found; and when they 
returned with this story, Magellan resolved 
that, inasmuch as the natives possessed noth- 
ing but themselves and the strange guanacos, 
he would take along specimens of both man 
and beast. 

Such good reports had been taken by 
giant John to the Patagonians, that when 
two yoimg and lusty warriors, having their 
hands full of presents, were shown a pair of 
manacles and asked by Magellan if they 
would not like to wear them on their ankles, 
they tm warily assented. The irons were 
brightly polished, and appeared so attractive 
165 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

that when assured the proper place to wear 
them was on the lower limbs, they thrust 
out their legs, at signs made by the armorer, 
and before well aware of what had happened 
to them the bolts were riveted, and they 
were securely fastened to the deck. As soon, 
however, as they discovered the trick by 
which they had been entrapped, they cast 
away their gifts, and yelled to their friends 
ashore, in voices that seemed like the bellow- 
ing of mad bulls. Their rage was fearful to 
behold, for they frothed at the mouth, they 
strained at their chains, and in their despair 
called upon their demon-god, Setebos, to aid 
them. 

"When any of those people die," says 
Pigafetta, "ten or twelve demons, all paint- 
ed, appear to them and dance very joyfully 
about the corpse. One of those demons is 
much taller than the others, and he cries out 
and rejoices more. Our giant told us, by 
signs, that he had seen those demons, with 
two horns on their heads, long hair, which 
hung to their feet, and belching forth fire 
from their mouths. That largest demon 
they call Setebos." 

This is the first mention of a god, or 
demon, by the name of Setebos, and it may 
i66 



THE LONG-SOUGHT STRAIT 

interest our readers to learn that this Pata- 
gonian deity was appropriated by Shake- 
speare, in his play of the ** Tempest," as the 
familiar of the uncouth Caliban, who is sup- 
posed to have been a Carib. That is, the 
omnivorous Shakespeare, who was the great- 
est borrower of other men's words and 
phrases of any age, deliberately purloined 
both Setebos and Caliban from the old 
books in which he found their names, and 
thus made them immortal. 

Magellan was well punished for the mean 
stratagem he had employed in capturing 
these inoffensive giants, for in them he soon 
found he had "caught a Tartar." At first 
they refused to be pacified, but soon they 
clamored for food and drink, and it became 
difficult to satisfy their demands, for their 
appetites were enormous. Each giant "ate 
a basketful of biscuit, and drank half a 
pailful of water at a gulp," while the rats 
that infested the ship, and which were 
caught and tossed to the prisoners by the 
sailors, were swallowed by them as delicious 
morsels. They did not even stop to skin 
them, such was the raging appetite of these 
barbarians; and Magellan may well have 
reflected upon his folly in adding to his 
167 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

crews two men with mouths and stomachs 
of such vast capacity. Their two mouths 
were equal to twenty ordinary ones to feed, 
and yet the captain-general persisted in his 
course, until one of the giants died on the 
flag-ship, and the other was carried to 
Spain by the mutineers on the San Antonio. 

John the Giant had brought Magellan a 
guanaco, as an offering indicating his good- 
will; but when the cries of his comrades 
came to him from the ship — he being at the 
time on shore — he is said to have organized 
a party of savages for their rescue. He and 
his companion savages were quickly driven 
from the shore, but one of the men-at-arms 
from the Trinidad was wounded in the 
thigh by a Parthian arrow and died imme- 
diately. **Our men had muskets and cross- 
bows," naively admits the narrator of the 
event, "but they could never hit any of the 
giants, for they never stood still when they 
fought, but leaped about hither and thither. 
Of a truth, they ran swifter than horses." 
Magellan's men burned all the possessions 
of the giants, thus adding to the distress of 
these poor savages in the height of winter, 
and then returned to the ships. 

Although the musketry failed to do any 
i68 



THE LONG-SOUGHT STRAIT 

execution, owing to the inability of the 
musketeers to hit a moving mark, yet the 
tremendous reports and the sulphurous smoke 
that came from the unwieldy arquebuses 
frightened the savages away. The harbor of 
San Julian presented — but for the presence 
of the fleet — once more a scene of solitude 
and desolation. Two months yet remained 
of the winter season, but Magellan con- 
cluded to make an attempt to get farther 
down the coast, at the risk of being wrecked 
by a sudden storm, for the monotony of 
existence there was unbearable. Still in- 
flexible in his determination to rid himself 
of his chief rival, the mutineer Juan Carta- 
gena, he placed him and the priest, Pedro 
Sanchez, on an islet in a curve of the bay, 
well supplied with provisions, a tent and 
boat, then sailed away, and left them to a 
fate much worse than death. 

The protests of these unfortunate men are 
not recorded, nor their prayers; but how 
despairingly must they have gazed after the 
retreating ships, and thought upon their 
helplessness when the giants should return, 
and, finding them alone, attack them. Even 
if the savages should prove more merciful 
than Fernan Magellan, and spare their lives, 
169 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

could they survive another season, with their 
provisions exhausted, and the rigors of 
winter to oppress them? As already men- 
tioned, some of their fellow- voyagers after- 
wards returned along the coast in time to 
rescue them from starvation; but whether 
they called in for them at San Julian, or 
unfeelingly kept on their way to Spain, is 
unknown, for their fate is involved in 
mystery. 

lit was with this sin on his conscience that 
Magellan left the port where he had found 
shelter more than four months, and, the last 
week in August, sailed for Santa Cruz, where, 
in a desolate harbor near the mouth of the 
river, he remained two months longer. A 
large store of dried and salted fish was laid 
in here, for future provisions, and some 
wreckage picked up, which had drifted 
ashore from the Santiago. The latitude of 
Santa Cruz was quite accurately determined 
by the pilots at, or near, fifty degrees south 
of the line, and the name of harbor and 
river may still be found on modern maps. 
Less than two degrees south of Santa Cruz 
appeared the opening into the strait, or 
water - passage from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific, which, evidently, Magellan was seek- 
170 




MAP OF THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN 



THE LONG-SOUGHT STRAIT 

ing. The fleet had left the river and harbor 
on October i8th, as the weather conditions 
had vastly improved, and signs of spring 
were on every hand. Only three days later, 
the Victoria, which was in the lead, sighted 
a promontory, which Magellan named ''el 
Cabo de las Vir genes,'' or the Cape of the 
Eleven Thousand Virgins, in remembrance 
of those hapless saints, as it was discovered 
on their ''feast-day." Rounding that cape, 
athwart which fierce gales blew forbiddingly, 
an opening was discovered, which a long 
month of exploration proved to be that to 
the strait connecting the two oceans. 

It has been a matter of controversy, in 
which geographers and historians have 
shared, whether or not Magellan had pre- 
vious knowledge, or intimation, of the exist- 
ence of this strait. The chief chronicler of 
his voyage, Pigafetta, declares that he knew 
where to sail in order to find it, because he 
had seen it depicted on a map in the posses- 
sion of the King of Portugal, which was made 
by Martin of Bohemia, otherwise Martin 
Behaim. This is hardly possible, however, 
unless Martin Behaim created the strait from 
pure conjecture, for he died in 1506, before 
any voyage had been extended so far south 
171 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

as latitude fifty degrees below the equator. 
Magellan may have met him in Lisbon, 
where he resided for a time, and where he 
probably deceased, and from conversations 
with him may have inferred the existence of 
the strait so long concealed. Whatever the 
cause of his search for it, and whether he had 
proof sufficient to satisfy himself that there 
was a strait, he cannot be deprived of his 
laurels as discoverer. 

It was a theory of Columbus, that if he 
could but break through that barrier be- 
tween the two oceans, he might sail around 
the world, and in his last voyage he strove 
frantically with winds and seas to achieve 
his purpose. In vain, however, did the 
great Admiral scan the Caribbean coast of 
Honduras, Panama, and Darien. He re- 
turned, sorrowing, and in great distress, to 
Spain, where he soon after died. Nine years 
later, in 15 13, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, until 
then an unknown adventurer, was favored 
with the first glimpse of the ocean now 
known as the Pacific ; and seven years after, 
Magellan found the way into it from the 
Atlantic. 

Several expeditions, Spanish and Por- 
tuguese, had preceded him down the coast 
172 



THE LONG-SOUGHT STRAIT 

of South America, but no proof has been 
advanced that any of them made a ' ' south- 
ing" so great as his. A strait, or the sem- 
blance of one, was laid down upon globes 
bearing date 15 15, and 1520, by the learned 
Schoner; but as the cartographers of that 
period were prone to construct their maps 
and globes less with a regard to accuracy 
than with reference to what the world de- 
sired, scant attention should be paid to this, 
/it is known that for many years, at least, 
'^rom the date of the first voyage of Colum- 
bus to Magellan's, the so-called ''secret of 
the strait" was the object of solution by 
many an explorer. In the capitulacion be- 
tween the King of Spain and Magellan, in 
truth, the latter is instructed to go *'in 
search of the strait' ' — as though one was 
presumed to exist somewhere, despite the 
efforts, constantly baffled, of explorers to 
find it. 

Let us say that Magellan had faith, and he 
found it; but so had Columbus, Vespucci, 
La Cosa, Ojeda, Coehlo, and others, and they 
found it not. Magellan merely pushed on a 
little farther than his predecessors, and had 
the courage and persistence to continue, in 
the face of every obstacle of whatever kind. 
173 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

At the outset, all his officers were against 
him; at the very gateway to the western 
ocean a well-planned mutiny nearly frus- 
trated his intentions; then a long winter of 
demoralizing inaction intervened; but here, 
at last, before him open wide, he saw the 
portal to the Pacific! He had reached, at 
last, the "Tail of the Dragon," as the 
ancients called the conjectural termination 
of South America towards the antarctic 
region; but he would not sail around it, he 
would practically sever it, by effecting a 
passage through to the western coast. 

He was then about seventeen degrees 
south of the Cape of Good Hope, and the 
actual tip of the continent, or the island, 
outlying thereon, now known as Cape Horn, 
was yet three degrees to the southward. 
It may not come amiss to recall, in this con- 
nection, that while the Cape of Good Hope 
was discovered in 1487, and first doubled in 
1497, the Strait of Magellan was not dis- 
covered or navigated till 1520, and Cape 
Horn was first rounded nearly a century 
after, or in 161 6. Thus slowly proceeded 
the explorers of the fifteenth and sixteenth 
centuries, cautiously creeping from one head- 
land to another, and consuming years in 
174 



THE LONG-SOUGHT STRAIT 

covering distances traversed to-day in weeks 
and in months. 

/Rounding the promontory of the Virgins, 
Magellan saw beyond it a broad inlet, with 
lofty, snow-topped mountains in the dis- 
tance, and bold shores. A sheltered bay 
afforded secure anchorage, and there the 
fleet passed the night; though a storm broke 
over them towards morning, and the vessels 
were obliged to ''stand off and on" till noon 
of the next day. Returning to the anchor- 
age in the spacious bay, Magellan first in- 
spected the San Antonio and Concepcion, 
commanded by Mesquita and Serrao, and 
then ordered them to make a reconnoissance, 
lasting not more than five days, and return 
to him in what is now called Possession 
Bay. There was no assurance then that 
the inlet was more than an estuary, like 
that of the Plata, or a false bay without an 
outlet, hence he would not venture with the 
fleet until the real character of the supposed- 
strait was disclosed. The two craft proceed- 
ed as directed, first entering a narrow chan- 
nel between lofty shores, then disclosing a 
broader body of water which the Spaniards 
called Lago de los Estrechos, or Lake of the 
Straits. Another constriction of the channel 
la 175 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

succeeded, beyond which appeared a great 
sound known to-day as the Broad Reach, 
which, though bounded by shores on either 
hand, stretched southward, apparently an 
inimitable distance. The surface of the 
sound appeared as rough as that of the 
ocean, with huge billows rising and falling 
in the distance, and the discoverers thought 
they had really reached the farther sea of 
which they were in search. Believing this, 
and the time they were to be absent having 
expired, they returned to Possession Bay, 
with flags and streamers flying in token of 
success. Magellan had been troubled about 
their continued absence, and the crews 
shared his apprehensions; but when the 
two pioneers hove in sight, with their flags 
flying in the wind and cannon booming 
loudly, all then knew that favorable news 
was soon to be received.^ 
^ "The ocean! The ocean!" shouted Serrao 
from the Concepcion, being in the lead. 
"We have seen the waves, and the billows. 
The currents — the tides — too, are strong, and 
the soundings almost without depth!" Ma- 
gellan accepted the report for what he hoped it 
was, the truth, without subjecting it to search- 
ing analysis, for it bore out his conjecture.] 
176 



THE LONG-SOUGHT STRAIT 

p' Thank God our Lord!" he exclaimed, 
fervently. And in response to the reports of 
the lombards on the incoming ships, his own 
artillery thundered. All hands were sum- 
moned on deck, dressed in their best attire, 
and, himself garbed in velvet, with a plimied 
cap on his head, a jeweled sword at his side, 
Magellan attended a service of thanksgiving 
conducted by his chaplain on the deck of 
the flag-ship. Orders were given at once to 
set sail for the sound that had been mistaken 
for the sea. When its true nature was dis- 
covered — when it was found that it split at 
length into several channels, Magellan called 
the fleet together and held a consultation. 
There was no doubt, he said, that one of 
these channels, perhaps all of them, led to 
the great western ocean, of which they were 
in search; but, though he had his own 
opinion, and his decision was unalterable, 
he would submit it to his officers: whether 
they should proceed, having foimd the long- 
sought passage, or return to refit. They 
had about three months' provisions remain- 
ing; they had spent six months in winter 
quarters near the scene of their discovery, 
in order to proceed at the best season, on 
the voyage to the Moluccas. The season 
177 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

had arrived, they were launched upon the 
broad road to success, and he, Magellan, 
believed they should proceed, trusting in 
Providence for favoring gales. 

All the officers, comprising the captains, 
pilots, and chief navigators, agreed with 
Magellan — all save one. This one was Esta- 
vao Gomez, who, though a Portuguese, was 
at odds with his commander through jeal- 
ousy. He himself had desired to lead an 
expedition to the Spice Islands, and as he 
was a skilled navigator, with knowledge of 
nautical matters that Magellan did not 
possess, he felt the king had acted im justly 
towards him. He advanced arg\iments> how- 
ever, of greater weight than those Magellan 
urged: that their provisions were not suffi- 
cient for a protracted voyage such as was, 
doubtless, now before them; that no living 
soul knew how long it w^ould be, nor exactly 
what course to take, once they were em- 
barked upon the waters of the as yet un- 
known ocean. 

Magellan turned to his captains again and 
said: ''Senores, these are the words of one 
disaffected, who, albeit he hath a little 
knowledge of navigation, yet knoweth no 
more of what is ahead of us than I myself 
178 



THE LONG-SOUGHT STRAIT 

know. The voyage, it is true, may be ex- 
tremely long — it can be nothing less than 
tedious, perhaps involved in danger; but, 
my men, to what will it lead in the end? 
As yet, we have done nothing but expend 
the substance of our lord the king, to no 
avail, for we have found only this strait, 
that is supposed to lead into the farther 
ocean. Shall we, then, return with that 
barren information, merely, and permit some 
other, more courageous and persistent mari- 
ners, to follow on our tracks and garner what 
we ourselves have sown? In my capitula- 
cion I am promised a tithe of the vast riches — 
and you are to share them with me — of the 
Spice Islands; their government, also, is to 
be under my supervision, and we are to 
establish for our lord the king, who is like- 
wise emperor over vast domains, a kingdom 
in the East. 

"Now, my decision is unshaken; though I 
would desire that it might be yours, my 
comrades. I am for proceeding, to the very 
last extremity. Our provisions are wasted, 
it is true; but, even if we are reduced to 
eating the leather on our ships* yards, I shall 
still go on, and attempt to discover what 
hath been promised by me to our lord the 
179 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

king; I trust that God will aid us, and I 
believe that He will give us good fortune." 

*'0n! On! We will go on!" were the 
cries that saluted this impassioned speech of 
the commander, and thus it was decided. 
Only Estavao Gomez appeared sullen, for he 
was even then scheming the mutiny that 
soon deprived Magellan of his largest ship. 
He was skilled as a navigator; he conduct- 
ed the San Antonio safely back to Spain; 
and he has the further distinction of having 
made a subsequent voyage along the coast 
of North America, during which he visited 
Massachusetts Bay. 

Again, as before, the Concepcion and the 
San Antonio were sent off exploring, some- 
what in advance of the Trinidad and Vic- 
toria, with instructions this time to investi- 
gate the southeast arm of the great sound, 
while Magellan inspected the southw^est arm, 
which was eventually found to lead to the 
Pacific. Unless it led finally in the right 
direction, they were to return to the main 
channel and pursue the course the captain- 
general had taken. Magellan himself round- 
ed the point known as Cape For\\^ard, whence 
he kept on to a stream which he called the 
River of Sardines, from the abundance of 
i8o 



THE LONG-SOUGHT STRAIT 

small fish therein, where he anchored, and 
refreshed his crew. They went ashore and 
cut wood, which gave out a fragrant odor in 
burning, and filled their water-casks, all the 
while awaiting the arrival of the other ships. 
But a week passed without tidings, and then 
Magellan concluded to retrace his course in 
search of them. The Concepcion was soon 
found, sailing towards them leisurely, but of 
the San Antonio, Serrao could give no news 
whatever, as she had outsailed his vessel, he 
said, from the very first. She seemed to 
have done so with intention, because, al- 
though he had tried several times to inter- 
cept her in the narrower channels, she had 
effectually avoided him, and had probably 
returned to the Atlantic coast. 

Magellan lost a week in vain attempts to 
discover her fate. He sent the Victoria 
northward as far as the entrance of the 
strait, explored every inlet of any size leading 
out from it, as well as what is now called 
Admiralty Sound (which the missing ship 
had been detailed to inspect), and planted 
letters of instruction, with flags above them, 
in various places along shore where they 
could not fail to be seen by a passing vessel. 
At last he was compelled to accept the con- 
i8i 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

elusion that the ship had either sunk to the 
bottom with all hands, or had been taken 
possession of illegally and turned towards 
the homeward track. 

What had happened has already been in- 
timated: The sullen Gomez had fomented 
an insurrection on board the ship he piloted, 
where his known skill was so much thought 
of that he had no trouble in convincing the 
crew that it was for their interest to return 
to Spain, rather than proceed with Magellan. 
They seized the captain, Mesquita, who was 
wounded in the scuffle that ensued, and 
placed him in irons. Then all sail was set 
for the Atlantic, slipping past the Con- 
cepcion in the night, and a direct course laid 
for the coast of Africa. 

Nearly six months later, May 6, 1521, 
the recreant crew arrived in Spain, at 
the port of Seville, where the imfortunate 
Mesquita, though the only innocent man 
aboard, was clapped into prison, still 
in irons, and there detained for sixteen 
months. The rascally Gomez and his ac- 
complices reported the complete failure of the 
expedition, with the loss of every vessel 
except their own, which they, at the risk of 
death from exposure and starvation, had 
182 



THE LONG-SOUGHT STRAIT 

piloted back to Spain. Thus they had saved 
one ship, for the king to send out again if he 
chose, and had spared no pains to rescue the 
property and Hves endangered by the rash- 
ness of Magellan, whom they could not de- 
nounce forcibly enough to his majesty. 

A second time, despite his reluctance to do 
so, Magellan put the question to his officers: 
''Will ye continue with me, or return? Our 
provisions are less than ever, inasmuch as the 
San Antonio, being the largest ship, carried 
the most of them. But my determination 
is no less strong than it was at the beginning, 
and my faith in God still firm." 

And his captains and pilots replied, no 
less promptly than before: "We will sail 
with you to the other side of the globe, and 
if we live we shall discover the new way to 
the Islands of Spices!" 



XII 

FIRST TRANSPACIFIC VOYAGE 
1520-1521 

THOUGH greatly depressed by the loss 
of the San Antonio, Magellan bore up 
wonderfully beneath his misfortunes, which 
indeed seemed to be cumulative and never- 
ending. The heavier the burden the greater 
seemed his strength to bear it. He had lost 
two vessels of his fleet, one by wreck, and 
one by treason; but there remained three 
still true to him, and with these three, bad- 
ly provisioned as they were, he resolved to 
continue. 

He returned to the River of Sardines, 
beyond Cape Forward, where the scenery of 
the strait, which lay between great moun- 
tains covered with vast forests up to the 
line of perpetual snow, was more pleasing 
than on the Atlantic side. Desolation and 
sterility had attended the voyage southward 
for months; but midway the sound known 
184 



FIRST TRANSPACIFIC VOYAGE 

as the Broad Reach the scenery had sudden- 
ly changed, with the most exuberant vege- 
tation clothing the mountain - sides. This 
change was caused by drenching rains 
brought by the western gales against the 
sierras, and was, to the parched and blis- 
tered voyagers, an augury of better things in 
store for them. 

Impressed by the beauty of the scenery, 
Pigafetta says: ''I do not believe there is 
a more beautiful or better strait in the 
world than that / one. We called it the 
Strait of Patagonia, and in it one finds the 
safest of ports, at every half -league's dis- 
tance apart springs of pure water, and ex- 
cellent woods." Fish were abundant too, 
while edible herbs grew around the springs; 
and with these articles of food the scanty 
provisions were eked out. 

Sailing leisurely through the strait west- 
ward from the river, at last the sailors 
sighted the open ocean, after having been 
a month and eight days engaged in thread- 
ing those labyrinthine passages. Much of 
the time, indeed, had been lost in seeking 
their recreant comrades, in exploring false 
waterways, and in fishing; but so long and 
involved had been this inland voyage, that 
185 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

Magellan believed the strait, or straits, to 
be all of four hundred miles in length. 
/^On his way through, Magellan gave names 
to all prominent capes, bays, inlets, moun- 
tains, and harbors. From the constant fires 
seen burning on the hills and mountains 
south of the strait he called that region 
Tierra del Fuego, or Land of Fire, a name 
which it has ever since retained. The strait 
itself he purposed to call after the ship from 
which it was first seen, the Victoria, and 
seems to have had no thought of bestowing 
upon it the appellation by which it is now 
known, of Magellan, or Magalhaes; but pos- 
terity has been more generous to the discov- 
erer than he was to himself. 

It was with salutes from his cannon, and 
with tears of joy, that the captain-general 
greeted the appearance of the sea - coast 
promontory guarding the western opening 
of the strait, which he called Cabo Deseado, 
or Desired Cape. He had so long desired 
to view it, he had so long believed there 
must be some such headland based in the 
waters of the western ocean, that the ''De- 
sired Cape" expressed his heart-felt hopes. 
There the fleet anchored, in a harbor suffi- 
ciently secure, and replenished the provisions 
i86 



FIRST TRANSPACIFIC VOYAGE 

with fresh stores of fish; the crews took 
advantage of their last opportunity for lib- 
erty ashore, and all prepared themselves for 
the unknown voyage before them. One of 
the pilots had advised continuing on until 
the middle of January, sailing only during 
the daytime, so that the crews might have 
time for rest; but Magellan knew this to 
be impossible, and gave his men leave on 
shore for refreshment at Cabo Deseado. 

Well was that promontory named, not 
alone for what it signified to Magellan, look- 
ing forward to it, but to him and his men 
in retrospection. TJbey arrived within the 
shelter of its harbor on November 28, 1520, 
and after a few days of rest started on 
the voyage across the ocean, then unknown, 
the first week in December. What a tri- 
umph for Magellan when, with the coast of 
the continent on his starboard, he emerged 
from the region of fitful winds and tempests 
and was wafted by gentle gales onward 
towards his destination! His was, in fact, 
a double triumph, for he had not only dis- 
covered and explored the strait connecting 
the two oceans, but his was the first expe- 
dition of consequence ever launched upon 
the western ocean. 

187 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

'Seven years had passed since Balboa dis- 
covered it, from a peak of the Darien Cordil- 
leras, and though he had built and launched 
some brigantines, just before he was be- 
headed, and had made a short trip to prove 
their seaworthiness, little else had been done 
with them until after Pedrarias founded 
Panama, in 15 19. Balboa was the precursor 
of Magellan, inasmuch as he discovered and 
first attempted to navigate the ocean called 
by him the great South Sea; but the cap- 
tain-general of the fleet we have so far 
accompanied was the first to sail across and 
name it. 

As the three ships held on their way over 
the bright and sparkling waters, un vexed by 
tempests, scarcely ruffled by gales, during 
more than one hundred days suffering neither 
from storms nor. adverse currents, Magellan 
evolved the name by which that ocean has 
ever since been known: ''Oceano Pacifico.'' 
The Pacific Ocean he called it, and rightly, 
says Pigafetta, "for during that time we did 
not suffer any storm, and in truth it is very 
pacific. And we sailed about four thousand 
leagues during those three months and 
twenty days, through an open stretch in 
that Pacific Ocean." 

188 



FIRST TRANSPACIFIC VOYAGE 

But the monotony of it! Ah, it was 
terrible! Even the dull-witted seamen, ac- 
customed as they were to long months at 
sea, with scarcely anything visible for days 
but the heaving waters and o'er-arching 
firmament, suffered from a strange depres- 
sion. Other sufferings, too, of a more poig- 
nant nature, had they, as we shall soon 
narrate; but the more vivacious spirits 
among them found diversion in observing 
the strange creatures that they saw, sporting 
in the waters and above them. 

One of the most alert and inquisitive in 
the company was Chevalier Antonio Piga- 
fetta, to whom we have referred already, on 
occasions, and it is to him that we are in- 
debted for the best and fullest narrative of 
Magellan's voyage, written from personal 
observation. Pigafetta was a Venetian, who, 
chancing to visit Seville when the Magellan 
expedition was in preparation, promptly en- 
listed for the voyage. He was with the hero 
of our story throughout that voyage, and in 
the flag-ship at that, so was probably in more 
or less intimate communion with him all the 
time; yet Magellan seems to have paid him 
scant attention. He was one of the very 
few survivors of the expedition, one of the 
189 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

immortal eighteen who sailed around. _the 
world and back to Spain in the Victoria. { 

His narrative may have been written long 
after the occurrences mentioned therein took 
place ; but in the main it is accurate, though 
subject to correction by comparison with the 
stories of the voyage by his contemporaries. 
To him we are indebted for the most de- 
tailed account of Magellan's doings, and the 
most intimate knowledge of his character. 
But for him, indeed, we should be at a loss 
for a well-rounded figure of the captain- 
general, especially after the Pacific was 
reached, and he had risen to heights of res- 
olution and self-effacement almost sublime. 

We will now accompany Signor Antonio, 
for a while at least, as he was the only man of 
that company who was thoughtful enough 
to set down in extenso what he saw and 
heard. Fernan Magellan was extremely neg- 
lectful in this respect, and it is doubtful if 
he ever gave the matter of his great achieve- 
ments a thought — after they were accom- 
plished. It was enough for him to do; let 
others, if they liked, tell how it was done. 
Still, we should have liked an account of his 
doings as given by himself, and we can hardly 
forgive him the omission. Fortunately, he 
190 



FIRST TRANSPACIFIC VOYAGE 

had (though perhaps unaware of the fact), a 
chronicler of his deeds in Pigafetta, who, 
though not a Boswell (inasmuch as he gives 
us but Httle pertaining to Magellan's per- 
sonality), is better than nobody at all. And, 
lest this remark seem ungracious, it should 
be added that, in his own particular province, 
he was without a peer in the fleet. 

While they were sailing along the west 
coast of South America, says the observant 
Antonio, they were amused by the fish- 
hunts that took place in the water. The fish 
that did the hunting he calls the albicore, 
bonito, and dorado— nsLxnes they bear to- 
day — and the hunted were the golondrini, 
or sea - swallows — otherwise, flying - fish. 
"When the above three kinds of fish find 
any of those flying-fish, the latter immediate- 
ly leap from the water and fly as long as their 
wings are wet — more than a cross-bow's 
flight. While they are flying the others 
swim back of and under them, following 
their shadows, and no sooner have they 
fallen into the water than they are seized and 
eaten." 

Not all of Pigafetta 's time was given to 
diversion, however, as he employed much of 
it, while the captive giant was aboard, in 
13 191 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

acquiring a vocabulary of Patagonian words. 
Many pages of these words are given in his 
book, and they are, of course, very valuable 
to the philologist. During this time he and 
the giant became very intimately acquainted, 
and, in fact, he seems to have been almost the 
only friend the poor fellow had in the fleet. 
He was an intelligent as well as very tractable 
giant, whose only failing was an enormous ap- 
petite, and that, of course, might make him 
disliked on board ship, especially by the cook. 
Apart from his appetite, he was a most in- 
teresting personage, and when he saw Piga- 
f etta writing down some chance words he had 
spoken, he at once divined the use of pen 
and paper (though he had never seen them 
before in his life), and voluntarily repeated 
as many words as he could think of, taking 
great pleasure in seeing them in writing.^ 
He also showed his friend how to make fire, 
by rubbing two dry sticks together until the 
sparks fall on the inflammable pith of a 
certain kind of tree found in Patagonia. All 
this shows that something of value may be 

^"When the kynge sawe Antonie Pizafetta write 
the names of many things, and afterwards rehearse 
them ageyne, he marvelled yet more, making signs that 
suche men descended from heaven." — Richard Eden. 
192 



FIRST TRANSPACIFIC VOYAGE 

learned even from an ignorant savage whose 
highest ambition is to gratify an insatiable 
appetite, and who prefers his food raw 
rather than cooked. 

At last, after a month of that monotonous 
sailing, a terrible thing happened to the fleet. 
It was attacked by the scurvy, and men died 
by the dozen at a time. Among the first 
victims was the captive giant, who, when he 
fotmd himself at death's door, desired his 
friend to present a cross, which he kissed, 
and then immediately cried out, in a feeble 
voice, "Setebos!" in order to propitiate his 
deity, whom he thought this act might 
offend. In truth, he said that if he had not 
done so the vengeful Setebos would have 
entered into his body and cause it to burst; 
still, he desired to be baptized before he died . 

Soon after the death of the giant, admits 
the veracious Pigafetta, he and his com- 
rades were so pinched by hunger that they 
were glad to devour the rats they caught 
in the hold of the ship — when they could 
catch them. They had thought it great 
fun to catch and toss them into the maw 
of the giant; but that voracious creature 
had eaten so many that they had become 
very scarce. Rats were sold, he says, ''for 
193 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

half a ducado apiece, and even then we 
could not get enough of them." As for 
their provisions, consisting chiefly of bis- 
cuit, "it was biscuit no longer, but merely 
an offensive powder, swarming with worms." 
Of fresh provisions they had none for more 
than three months, their drinking-water be- 
came putrid, and, says Gomara the historian, 
"they held their noses as they drank, for the 
vile stench of it." 

Then came home to Magellan the words 
he had uttered in the strait: that he would 
eat the leather on the main-yards before he 
would turn about for Spain — ^for of a truth 
he and his comrades had to do it. Na meat 
was left to them, no fish could be caught; 
and so they cut the tough old hides from the 
yards, and, after soaking in the sea for several 
days, broiled them on the embers. They 
were exceedingly hard, as may be imagined, 
"because of the sun, rain, and wind"; yet 
the pieces were devoured with relish, and 
such of the crew as could not get enough 
were obliged to fill themselves up with 
sawdust. 

Added to the horrors of famine were those 
of thirst and heat, for they were now near 
or under the equatoi'; the vertical sun 
194 



FIRST TRANSPACIFIC VOYAGE 

blazed down upon them relentlessly, the 
pitch oozed from the seams of the vessels, 
and the seamen, when forced to climb the 
rigging, often fell lifeless to the decks. Dur- 
ing nearly one hundred days, no land was 
seen save two small islands, destitute of 
vegetation. Sea-birds hovered over them, 
but they could not be caught; man-eating 
sharks swam the waters around them, but 
were as wary as they were ferocious. Says 
the pious Pigafetta: "Had not God and 
His blessed mother given us good weather, 
we would all have died of hunger in that 
exceedingly vast ocean. And of a verity, I 
believe no such voyage will ever be made 
again!" 

Taken together with the termination of 
that voyage, or its prolongation, rather, 
around the globe, doubtless no such voyage 
will be made again. Throughout the whole 
of it Fernan Magellan bore himself as might 
have been foretold of him. He neither com- 
plained nor allowed others to do so; he ate 
the same food as was served to his crews, 
and surpassed any man of them all in the 
number of hours he stood watch, by night 
and by day. 

The course from the strait had been in the 
195 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

main northwesterly, changing sHghtly after 
the equator was crossed. The voyage across 
the Pacific was a month longer than that of 
Columbus across the Atlantic, and the dis- 
tance traversed three times as great; yet 
there was no thought on the part of Magellan 
of temporizing with his crews, nor hesitation 
as to the course he should pursue. On, on, 
ever sailing towards an evasive horizon, 
without beacon or buoy to guide him, Magel- 
lan pursued his watery way to the Spice 
Islands, resolved to continue until the last 
ounce of food was consumed, and the last 
man dropped dead at the helm. 



XIII 

DISCOVERY OF THE PHILIPPINES 
152I 

ON a morning of the first week in March, 
1 521, the starving crews were cheered 
by the emerald crown of a mountain peering 
above the horizon. It rose higher and 
higher, and as the clouds about its shoulders 
dissolved there stood revealed one of the 
most beautiful objects in the world, a tropi- 
cal island in mid-ocean. This island-moim- 
tain was clothed from summit to base in the 
most luxuriant vegetation: whole forests, 
wreathed in vines spangled with starry blos- 
soms; feathery bamboos climbing the ac- 
clivities, and ranks of cocoa-palms encircling 
all, with their golden crowns gleaming above 
snow-white coral strands. 

The vessels were headed for this island, 

when another appeared, of lesser magnitude 

but apparently more accessible, and nearer. 

To this latter the bows were promptly point- 

197 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

ed, and as it was approached scores of 
native canoes, or proas, came careering out 
from shore. Each proa was filled with 
naked brown men, smooth of skin, pleasant 
as to countenance, shapely as to form, and 
tall of stature. They approached, jabbering 
and gesticulating, holding up stalks of ba- 
nanas set with yellow fruit, and clusters of 
cocoanuts filled with refreshing drink. These 
products of their gardens were quickly dis- 
posed of to the famishing sailors, who fell-to 
greedily upon the fruits and nuts, while their 
visitors roamed at will about the ships. 
They seemed so frank and inoffensive that 
Magellan interposed no objection to their 
familiarity, and watched their capers with 
amused interest while speculating upon their 
peculiarities. 

As Magellan was leaning over the rail of 
the flag-ship, looking down into the canoes 
swarming aroimd her, he was approached 
by one of his officers, who said: "Pardon 
me, your excellency, but those rascals have 
stolen our small-boat, which was fastened 
astern. And they are also taking everything 
on board which they can get into their 
hands!" Magellan was on the qui-vive in a 
moment. "Clear the ship!" he shouted. 
198 



DISCOVERY OF THE PHILIPPINES 

"Send a party at once to intercept those 
scoundrels." Seeing that it was impossible 
to overtake them, however, as they moved in 
the water with incredible rapidity, he gave 
orders for the ship to stand ''off and on" 
during the night, and in the morning sent a 
punitive party of sixty men to burn their 
village and secure the boat they had stolen. 
He was thoroughly enraged, having been 
so basely deceived, and determined to give 
these treacherous people a lesson. The vil- 
lage was burned, som.e of the natives killed, 
and the boat recovered, the expedition re- 
turning to the fleet with a large quantity of 
provisions, which were extremely acceptable. 
The islanders seemed to be unacquainted 
with defensive weapons, such as bows and 
arrows, for when any of them were struck by 
darts, or crossbow-shafts, which usually went 
entirely through the body, they would draw 
the missiles out and look at them with 
astonishment before they expired. These 
acts excited the compassion of the explorers ; 
but when the natives rallied and pursued 
them in their canoes, to the number of a 
hundred or more, they did not hesitate to 
discharge their cannon among them. Their 
proas were so swift that one of them cut out 
199 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

another small-boat as it was being towed 
astern a ship, passing between the two with 
great dexterity, though the vessel was sailing 
at full speed. 

From the number of these proas, all carry- 
ing small, triangular sails, Magellan, at first 
sight of them coming out from the shore, 
named these new lands the "Islands of the 
Lateen Sails"; but when the thievish pro- 
clivities of the natives were disclosed he 
called them the Ladrones, or Robber Islands. 
The name has clung to them ever since, for, 
like most of his appellations, it was peculiarly 
applicable. The island at which Magellan 
first arrived was that known now as Guam^ 
or Guahan, and belongs to the United States, 
having been ceded to this government by 
Spain in 1898. 

The incensed natives of Guam were loath 
to allow the fleet to leave their waters with- 
out some token of their displeasure, and 
pursued it in their canoes for a long distance, 
casting stones at the ships, uttering cries 
of defiance, and making hideous grimaces. 
''The chief amusement of these people," 
wrote Pigafetta, *'is to plough the seas in 
those small boats of theirs, which are sharp- 
pointed, bow and stern alike, and carry sails 
200 



DISCOVERY OF THE PHILIPPINES 

made of palm-leaves sewn together, lateen 
shape. They are very fast, and in shape and 
speed resemble dolphins which leap in the 
water from wave to wave. At the side 
opposite the sail, they have a large log of 
wood, pointed at the top, with poles laid 
across it and resting on the water, in order 
that the boats may sail more safely." These 
affairs were the curious outriggers, invent- 
ed and used by the islanders of the South 
Pacific, who had lived so long isolated that 
"they thought there were no other people in 
the world but themselves." 

During the two-days' stay at Guam, the 
crews had been greatly refreshed, for not 
only was the long-continued strain of watch- 
ing relieved, but the fresh fruits and vege- 
tables put an end to the scurvy which had 
afflicted them so severely. Some of the sea- 
men, however, were too far gone to recover, 
and on the morning the fleet left Guam 
(which was the 9th of March), the only 
Englishman in the expedition died of the 
disease. He was a gimner, and known on 
board as ''Master Andrew of Bristol." Some 
sick remained yet, and when, a week later, 
the outlying islands of what is known to-day 
as the Philippines were reached, anchors 
201 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

were dropped in the first promising harbor, 
for the purpose of recreating the invalids. 
The island was without inhabitants, though 
as attractive as an oasis of palm-trees in a 
desert, and here Magellan pitched his tents 
in peace, and set up a temporary hospital 
for the sick. A pig was killed which had 
been obtained at Guam, fresh fruits were set 
before the invalids, and the captain-general 
himself gave them cocoa-milk and pure spring- 
water to drink, with his own hands. He was 
unwearied in his attentions, and soon the 
sick recovered sufficiently to be taken back 
to the ships again, when the fleet proceeded 
to other islands. 

V While encamped on the sands of the unin- 
habited island, Magellan was approached by 
nine men in a proa, which they ran upon the 
beach without hesitation, at a point quite 
near the tents. After regarding the Euro- 
peans for a while in silence, these natives 
took several fish, which they had just 
caught, out of their canoe, and laid them at 
Magellan's feet. In return for this acceptable 
gift, he ordered some caps of colored cloth, 
looking-glasses, and cascabels brought out 
and given them. These were so highly ap- 
preciated that the natives again went to the 
202 



DISCOVERY OF THE PHILIPPINES 

canoe and brought forth a big bunch of 
bananas, a sack of cocoa-nuts, and an im- 
mense jar of palm- wine, all of which were 
presented to Magellan, jwith many signs of 
friendship and good- will., 
'^ When these ''Filipinos" took their de- 
parture a short while after, they promised 
to return with fruits from their groves and 
gardens, and a week later were back as 
agreed. They brought with them not only 
cocoa-nuts, oranges, bananas, and jars of 
wine, but some of the native jungle-fowl, 
domesticated from wild birds taken in the 
forest. They exhibited " great signs of pleas- 
ure at seeing us," says Pigafetta, " and we pur- 
chased all those articles from them.^' Their 
chief, an old man with a tattooed face, gold 
rings in his ears, gold armlets and bracelets, 
was almost entirely naked, like his followers, 
except that he wore a cotton kerchief em- 
broidered with silk. 

All these people were dark-complexioned, 
corpulent, and glistening from frequent 
applications of cocoa-nut oil. Their hair 
was jet black and fell to their waists, while 
their wild appearance was increased by 
their custom of carrying daggers, knives, 
spears, javelins, and shields which were 

20S 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

ornamented with gold. They had come 
from the islands of Samar and Suluan, 
which they importuned Magellan to visit; 
but he had passed them on the way and 
did not care to retrace his steps. Instead, he 
proceeded easterly to the island of Mazaba, 
where a surprise awaited him, for he found 
that some of the people spoke a language 
understood by his servant, or slave, who 
was a Malay from Malacca. Enrique, or 
Henry, was the name by which he was 
known to the Spaniards, though he was 
formerly called Traprobana. But, though a 
boat-load of natives came within speaking 
distance of the flag-ship, and though Enrique 
conversed with them freely, they would not 
board the vessel. Wishing to establish 
friendly relations with them, Magellan sent 
out a red cap and other things on a floating 
plank, and was pleased to observe that they 
picked them up with signs of satisfaction. 

They probably took the gifts to their 
chief, or king, for a few hours later he came 
out in a large boat, or balanghai, which was 
full of armed men and furnished with an 
awning, under which he reclined upon a pile 
of mats. He at first refused to go on board 
the ship, as he was very suspicious of these 
204 



DISCOVERY OF THE PHILIPPINES 

strangers who had come to his island unin- 
vited, though they assured him that they 
came as friends and not as enemies. Pres- 
ents were exchanged by means of floating 
planks, and amicable relations established 
which led to a second visit by the king, who, 
when he entered the flag-ship, embraced 
Magellan cordially and begged his acceptance 
of a bar of gold and a basket of ginger. The 
captain-general is said to have refused the 
gold — to the great disgust of his crew, who 
had never before sailed with a commander 
so free from the sin of covetousness. But 
he accepted three porcelain jars fllled with 
rice, and several large fish, as fresh food 
was a necessity. In return he gave the king 
a robe of red-and-yellow cloth, a Turkish 
fez, and to his men some mirrors and knives. 
These presents impressed his majesty so 
favorably that he expressed a desire to be 
cast casi with Magellan, or, in other words, to 
perform the ceremony of blood-brotherhood, 
and it was done. Each one let the other 
taste a few drops of his blood, and thence- 
forth they were "brothers," according to the 
Malay custom. 

Desirous of impressing the half -naked king 
with his power and attainments, Magellan 
205 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

showed him his stock of arms and ammu- 
nition, his collection of weapons, artillery, 
armor, etc. He had some of the cannon 
discharged, at the sound of which the king 
was greatly terrified, and two of his attend- 
ants leaped overboard. ''Then the captain- 
general had a man encased in armor, and 
placed him in the midst of three others 
armed simply with swords and daggers, who 
struck him on all parts of the body without 
harming him. At this sight the king was 
rendered almost speechless, and when the 
captain-general told him that one of those 
armed men was worth a hundred of his own 
[the king's] without defensive armor, he 
answered that was a fact. The captain- 
general said that he had two hundred men 
who were armed in that manner, and he 
showed the king his cuirasses, swords, buck- 
lers, etc., and had a review conducted for 
him. Then he led him to the deck of the 
ship that is located above, at the stern, and 
had his sea-charts and compass brought. 
By means of them he explained how he had 
found the strait, in order to voyage thither, 
and how many moons he had been without 
seeing land, whereat the king was greatly 
astonished. Lastly, he told the king that 
206 



DISCOVERY OF THE PHILIPPINES 

he would like, if it were pleasing to him, to 
send two of his men with him so that he 
might show them some of his things. The 
king replied that he was agreeable, and I, 
Antonio Pigafetta, went with him in com- 
pany with another. 

"When we reached the shore, the king 
raised his hands towards the sky and then 
turned to us, so that we did the same, as did 
all the others. The king then took me by 
the hand, one of his chiefs took my com- 
panion, and thus they led us under a bam- 
boo covering, where there was an immense 
balanghai, resembling a fusta. There we sat 
down upon the stern of that great boat, 
constantly conversing by signs, and the 
king's men stood about us in a circle, armed 
with swords, daggers, spears, and bucklers. 

"The king shortly had a dish of pork and 
a large jar of wine brought in, and at every 
mouthful we drank a cup of the wine. The 
king's cup was always covered, and no one 
drank of it save himself. Before he took 
the cup to drink he raised his clasped hands 
towards the sky, and then towards me. 
When he was about to drink, he extended 
the fist of his left hand towards me (so that 
at first I thought he was about to strike me), 
14 207 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

and then drank. I did the same, and so far 
as possible went through the same perform- 
ance. I learned that they always make 
those signs when they drink together." 

These peculiar customs remind one of 
similar ceremonies used by the Aztecs and 
Mayas of Mexico when, about the same 
time, they were first visited by the Span- 
iards. After the meal was over, Pigafetta 
employed himself in writing down as many 
words of his host's language as he could 
obtain ; but not much time was allowed him, 
for soon the supper -hour arrived and the 
feasting was resumed. Two large dishes 
were brought in, one full of boiled rice, and 
the other of pork with its gravy. *'We ate 
with the same signs and ceremonies as 
before, after which we went to the king's 
'palace,' which was built like a hay-loft, set 
up high from the ground on great posts, 
and was thatched with banana and palm 
leaves. To reach the banquet-hall it was 
necessary to ascend by means of ladders, 
and once there the king made us sit down, 
on a bamboo mat, with our feet drawn up 
like tailors. 

"After a long delay, a platter of broiled 
fish was brought in, also green ginger and 
208 



DISCOVERY OF THE PHILIPPINES 

wine. The king's eldest son, who was the 
prince, sat down near us, and then two 
platters of fish and rice were brought, so 
that we might also eat with him. We were 
already full to repletion, and my companion 
became intoxicated as the result of so much 
drinking. The torches now burned low, 
with flickering light, and the king made us 
a sign that he was going to sleep. He left 
the prince with us, and we slept with him 
on a bamboo mat with pillows made of 
leaves. 

"With the dawn of day came the king, 
who took me by the hand and led me to the 
place where we had supper, in order to 
partake of refreshments before the boat 
came for us. As we departed the king 
kissed our hands, and we kissed his, in 
token of the mutual joy we felt. lOne of 
his brothers, the king of another island 
[Mindanao], and three men went with us, 
whom our captain - general kept to dine 
aboard the flag-ship." 

This king informed Magellan that in his 
island gold, in nuggets the size of eggs and 
walnuts, was very abundant; that his plate 
was all of gold, and the adornments of his 
palace were chiefly of the precious metal. 
209 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

He had, indeed, something to show in proof 
of his boasting, for the haft and scabbard 
of the dagger he wore at his side were of 
gold, and in his ears were massive golden 
ear-rings. ''He likewise had three spots of 
gold on every tooth in his head, and his 
teeth appeared as if bound with gold. He 
was perfimied with storax and benzoin; 
tawney he was, and tattooed all over his 
body."/ 

" According to their custom he was grand- 
ly decked out, and the finest - looking man 
we had seen among these people. His hair 
was raven black and himg to his shoulders. 
On his head he wore a covering of silk, 
and around his waist a cotton cloth which 
covered his legs down to his laiees." His 
name and title combined Pigafetta gives as 
Raia [Rajah] Siaui, and his brother was the 
Raia Colambu. He had been hunting in 
the latter' s island, as was his custom when 
desirous of meeting his brother, and was 
then returning to his own districts, which 
were Butuan and Calagan, in northeastern 
Mindanao. 

The dress, customs, and ornaments of the 
people met by Magellan in the Philippines 
were similar to those in vogue to-day, and 

2IO 



DISCOVERY OF THE PHILIPPINES 

the Malays had the same disgusting habit of 
chewing the betel-nut, as have their succes- 
sors in the islands. As the following Sunday 
was Easter, and also the anniversary of the 
mutiny which he had suppressed in the 
harbor of San Julian, Magellan resolved to 
celebrate the double event in a manner to 
impress the king and all his people. He 
sent his chaplain ashore, with Enrique, the 
interpreter, to inform the king of his inten- 
tion to perform a religious ceremonial, but 
not to dine with him, or visit. 

The king at once consented to the landing 
of the soldiers, fifty of whom, without armor, 
but carrying their muskets and side-arms, 
paraded on the beach in front of the palace. 
Before they reached the shore six cannon 
had been fired "as a sign of peace," and the 
two native kings embraced Magellan ardent- 
ly. With a king on either side, he marched 
his men to a place selected for the ceremonies, 
and before they commenced sprinkled his 
royal companions with musk water, at which 
they were well pleased. They even kissed 
the cross, when it was elevated, and with 
clasped hands fell on their knees and wor- 
shipped this, the first. Christian symbol they 
had ever seen. 

211 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

They did this probably from deference to 
their guests, and not because of any real 
sentiment of religion, for when asked by 
Magellan whether they were Moros (Ma- 
hometans) or heathens, they made answer 
that they worshipped nothing, but that 
they raised their clasped hands and faces to 
the sky, and called their god by the name 
of Abba. "Thereat the captain-general was 
very glad, and, seeing that, the first king 
raised his hands to the sky and said that 
he wished it were possible for him to make 
the strangers see his love for him." 

Magellan replied that he did not doubt 
his love, and to prove it he was going to ask 
of him a great favor. He desired permission 
to set up the cross they had brought on the 
summit of a hill overlooking the harbor, 
where it should be not only a sign of posses- 
sion taken in the name of his dread sovereign, 
but as a token of amity between them. 
Magellan's real reason, doubtless, for the 
raising of the cross in such a conspicuous 
place, lay in the fact that such an act signi- 
fied actual possession, and allegiance on the 
part of the natives to the king he served. 
But he veiled his real motives in the religious 
ceremony, and he told the kings, through 

212 



DISCOVERY OF THE PHILIPPINES 

the interpreter, "that he wished to set it up 
in that place for their benefit, for whenever 
any of our ships came they would know 
that we had been there by this cross, and 
would do nothing to displease them or harm 
their property. If any of their men were 
captured, they would be set free immediately, 
on that sign being shown ; and it was neces- 
sary to place it on the highest hill or moun- 
tain, so that on seeing it every morning they 
might adore it ; and if they did that, neither 
thunder, lightning, nor storms would harm 
them in the least. They thanked him heart- 
ily, and said they would do everything he 
wished most willingly." 

'Near the shore, and overlooking the har- 
bor, rose a verdant, palm - dotted hill with 
a smooth and rounded crown. It was a site 
most fit for the erection of that holy symbol 
of Christianity, and there Magellan resolved 
to place it. With a host of natives in the 
van, breaking a path through the tangled 
tropical vegetation, and himself leading his 
fifty soldiers, he ascended the hill soon to be 
made sacred to the religion he professed. 
The two kings accompanied him, and while 
the trio stood apart, watching the pro- 
ceedings with deep interest, the soldiers de- 
213 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

tailed for the purpose dug a deep hole and 
set the cross in position. Less than eight 
years previously, Balboa, on the isthmus 
of Darien, had marked with a cross the site 
from which he had first viewed the Pacific, 
and now it was Fernan Magellan's privilege, 
in these far-distant isles of the same ocean, to 
confirm his sovereign's possession of that vast 
body of water which he was the first to cross?^ 
A gilded crown surmounted the cross, and 
both together typified the spiritual and 
material sovereignty which Magellan, as a 
faithful subject of his king and true soldier 
of the faith, was desirous to extend and to 
confirm. After it was in position, he rev- 
erently knelt at the foot of the cross, and 
with his soldiers, also on bended knees, 
listened to the invocation by his chaplain. 
The moment it was finished a musket was 
fired, as a signal to the ships, and their can- 
non boomed a salutation. Volleys of mus- 
ketry responded from the hill, and, amid 
dense clouds of smoke, the party descended 
to the plain at its base, where the soldiers 
performed martial evolutions and fought a 
sham battle, greatly to the edification of all 
the people, who were loath to allow their 
guests to depart. 

214 



XIV 

"converting" the natives 
I52I 

THE island in which Magellan met the 
two kings, and where he first planted 
the cross, is called Mazana by Pigafetta, but 
is now known as Limasaua, and lies off the 
southern end of Leyte. It is scarcely more 
than ten miles square in area, but, small as it 
is, proved stifficiently attractive to the voy- 
age-weary sailors to detain them for the 
space of a week, ** It lies in latitude of nine 
and two-thirds degrees towards the arctic 
pole," says the chevalier, ''and in longitude 
one hundred and sixty-two degrees from the 
line of demarcation." That ''line of de- 
marcation," of course, is the one set down by 
the treaty of Tordesillas, in 1494, separating 
the Spanish and Portuguese halves of the 
world. Magellan was exceedingly anxious 
to prove that the Moluccas lay on the 
Spanish side of the line, and likewise the 
215 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

Philippines — as these islands were after- 
wards called." VA 

Inquiring for larger and richer islands, at 
which he might carry on a profitable trade, 
the captain-general was told that one of the 
wealthiest of these was Zubu (now Zebu, 
Sebu, or Cebu), and that there he might 
obtain the gold and spices he desired, in ex- 
change for his stock of goods in the ships. 
When he asked for pilots to Zebu, he was 
told that none was to be had for love or for 
money, but that if he would wait till the 
kings had harvested their rice crops one or 
both of them would go with him gladly. So 
Magellan not only waited two days, but sent 
men to aid the farmer kings in gathering 
their crops. But the kings were so hospit- 
able to the laborers that all, including them- 
selves, were overcome, it is said, by the 
liquor they drank, and a further delay en- 
sued. A final departure was made on the 
fourth day of April, and, while some un- 

_ * "When the Philippines were discovered, they were 
removed on the maps twenty-five degrees east of their 
true position on the globes. The Spaniards made the 
maps. The islands were thus brought within their 
half of the world ; and this immense-error was not cor- 
rected till the voyage of Dampier." — Rev. E. E. Hale, 
in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America. 
2l6 



"CONVERTING" THE NATIVES 

certainty exists as to the points previously 
touched at by Magellan, all doubts are re- 
moved from the time the royal pilots took 
the helms, as they steered a straight course 
for the island of Zebu. 

Many wonders were seen on the way, the 
observer whose narrative we are following 
tells us, among the most astonishing being the 
''flying -foxes," or frugiverous bats, "as 
large as eagles," the flesh of which, he says, 
tasted like chicken. Besides turtle-doves 
and parrots, which were in swarms on cer- 
tain islands, he mentions those wonderful 
birds, the megapodes, or "mound birds," 
which lay their large eggs in a mound of 
decaying vegetation, by the heat of which 
they are hatched. The voyage must have 
been a leisurely one to have enabled the 
observer to note these objects by the 
way; but the port of Zebu was reached ^ 
on April 7th and entered with flying col- \ 
ors. 

Let what then occurred be related by one 
who was present. "On approaching the 
city," he says, "the captain-general ordered 
the ships to fling out their banners. The 
sails were lowered, as if for battle, and all the 
artillery was discharged — an action which 
217 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

caused great fear to those people. The 
captain-general then sent a foster-son of his 
as ambassador to the King of Sebu, with the 
interpreter. When they reached the city 
they found a vast crowd of people gathered 
about the king and trembling in fear from 
the noise of the lombards. The interpreter 
informed them that it was our custom, when 
entering a strange port, to discharge all our 
cannon, not only as a sign of peace and 
friendship, but in honor of the king. They 
were then reassured, but the king remarked 
that this was a strange custom, and then 
asked what it was our captain wanted. The 
interpreter replied that his master was the 
greatest captain in the world, and was going 
to the Moluccas by a new route he had dis- 
covered; but that he had digressed on the 
way, in order to. visit the King of Cebu, be- 
cause of the good report received from the 
King of Mazana. 

"The king told him he was come in good 
time, but that it was the custom for all 
strange ships that entered his ports to pay 
him tribute, and that it was but four days 
since a jimk which had come from Siam, 
laden with slaves and gold, had done so. 
In proof of this statement he pointed to 
218 



"CONVERTING" THE NATIVES 

the merchant in charge of the junk, who 
was present at the time. 

"The interpreter told the king that since 
his master was the captain of so great a 
monarch, he did not pay tribute to any 
seignior in the world, but on the contrary 
exacted tribute from others. If the king 
wished for peace, he would have peace; but 
if war instead, then war it should be! 

"Thereupon the Moro merchant said to 
his majesty, 'Cata Rata chita' — that is to 
say : ' Look well, sire ; for these men are the 
same as those who have conquered Calicut, 
Malacca, and all Greater India. If they are 
treated well, they will give good treatment 
in return; but if evil, then evil treatment, 
and worse, as they have done to Calicut and 
Malacca.' 

"Understanding all this, the interpreter 
said to the king that his master's king was 
more powerful even than the King of Portu- 
gal — that he was the ruler over Spain, and 
emperor of other countries, and that if he 
did not care to be his friend, next time 
would be sent so many men that they would 
destroy him. This answer being translated 
to the king, he answered that he would de- 
liberate with his council. Then he had re- 
219 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

freshments served, of many dishes, contained 
in porcelain platters, besides several jars of 
wine ; and after our men had partaken, they 
returned and told us everything." 

The upshot of long negotiations which 
ensued was that the King of Cebu sent 
Magellan a drop of blood from his right 
arm, with the request that he do the same 
for him, in token of blood-brothership. This 
was done, and thus amicable relations were 
at once established. The nephew of the 
king, a prince of pleasing manners and 
countenance, was despatched to treat with 
the captain-general on board his ship. He 
was received with great honors, and seated 
beside Magellan in a red velvet chair, while 
his companions, the Governor of Cebu, the 
constable, and eight chiefs, reclined on mats 
spread upon the deck. 

Asked if they were empowered to make 
peace, they answered they were. Then the 
captain-general, who was ever seeking op- 
portunities to further the cause of religion, 
made an impassioned speech upon the de- 
lights of peace, and declared himself an 
apostle of the Prince of Peace, whose hum- 
ble servant even was his great and mighty 
king. He told them of God, who made the 
220 



"CONVERTING" THE NATIVES 

sky, the earth, the sea, and "all that in them 
is." He informed them that all people living 
were descended from Adam and Eve, our 
first parents, and — what seemed very strange 
and new to them — that every one has an 
immortal spirit. The good are to be re- 
warded, he said, and the bad condemned to 
the pit of fire everlasting. 

These simple children of nature seemed 
greatly impressed by Magellan's eloquence, 
and by the arguments he advanced in proof 
that his religion was the "only true one," 
and that they should promptly embrace it 
for the good of their souls. They requested 
him to allow at least two of his company 
to remain among them, in order to teach 
them the true faith; but Magellan replied 
that he could not do so then, though he had 
with him a priest of the most high God who, 
if they would consent to become Christians, 
would baptize them in His name. They 
answered that they would first speak to 
their king, and that then, doubtless, they 
would all become Christians, "at which 
words we all wept for joy," says the cheva- 
lier. 

"The captain-general told them that they 
should not become Christians from fear, or 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

to please us, merely, but of their own free 
wills ; and that he would not cause any dis- 
pleasure to those who wished to live accord- 
ing to their own law; but that the Christians 
would be better regarded and treated than 
the others! Then all cried out, with one 
voice, that they were not becoming Chris- 
tians through fear, or to please us, but of 
their own free will. Then the captain-gen- 
eral told them that if they became Christians 
he would leave with them a suit of armor — 
for so his king had commanded him to do; 
and he further assured them that if they 
became Christians the devil would no longer 
appear to them, except in the last moment 
at their death. 

"They said that they could not answer 
the beautiful words he had spoken, but that 
they placed themselves in his hands, and 
that he should consider them as his most 
faithful servants. Then our captain em- 
braced them, weeping, and clasping one of 
the prince's hands, and one of the King of 
Mazana's, between his own, he said to them 
that, by his faith in God and to his sovereign, 
the emperor, and by the habit of Santiago, 
which he wore, he promised to give them 
perpetual peace with the King of Spain." 

222 



''CONVERTING" THE NATIVES 

Refreshments were served, and presents 
exchanged, the prince offering Magellan a 
few baskets of rice, some swine, fowls, and 
goats, with apologies for the meanness of 
the gift. The captain-general replied that 
the essence of the gift was the spirit that 
prompted it, and then gave the prince a 
red cap, a web of linen, some strings of 
beads, and an elegant drinking-cup of gilded 
glass, besides minor presents to his followers. 
To the King of Cebu he sent, by the hand of 
the prince, a gorgeous robe of silk, ''made 
in Turkish style" — that is, long and flowing; 
a fine red cap, or fez, two of the gilded 
drinking-cups, and a great many strings of 
beads, in a beautiful silver dish. 

When the much -vaunted ''king" was 
finally discovered to Magellan he was found 
to be a short and squatty individual, ex- 
ceedingly corpulent, and with face and body 
hideously tattooed. He was seated on a 
palm-mat spread upon the ground, and his 
costume was so scant as scarcely to merit 
mention, consisting of a silk kerchief round 
his head, a breech-clout, and a necklace of 
precious stones. In his ears were rings of 
gold set with valuable gems. He was eating 
turtle eggs from porcelain dishes, and drink- 
is 223 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

ing palm- wine from an earthen jar by means 
of small hollow reeds, like straws. He 
looked up from his repast as the strangers 
entered the pavilion in which he sat, glanced 
at the gifts, kissed them, and then ordered 
eggs and wine for his guests. Not a word 
would he listen to until they had finished 
the repast, when he wiped his lips, clapped 
his hands for a servant to remove the empty 
jars and dishes, and announced himself as 
ready for business. 

He listened attentively to what his nephew 
said about the white man's religion, and 
assented to his proposition to embrace it. 
Then he clapped his hands again, and four 
young girls appeared, who danced gracefully 
before the king and his guests, while playing 
upon sweet-toned Chinese gongs. After this 
recreation had been indulged in, his majesty 
declared he must sup, and invited the party 
to remain; but finally accepted their ex- 
cuses and allowed them to return to the 
ship. There they found that two of the 
sailors had died, and again seeking audience 
of the king, secured his permission to con- 
secrate a certain space in the centre of the 
town as a cemetery, and inter their comrades 
therein. 

224 



"CONVERTING" THE NATIVES 

The funeral ceremonies were made as 
elaborate as possible, and the king, who 
was duly impressed, promised to become a 
Christian on the following Sunday. When 
the holy day arrived a platform was erected 
in the consecrated square, decorated with 
palmi- leaves and silken hangings, and here 
Magellan and the King of Cebu met by ap- 
pointment. The captain-general came ashore 
with an escort of forty musketeers, two of 
whom only were in complete armor, and 
when he landed on Cebu soil all the cannon 
of the fleet were fired in salute. The king 
and Magellan embraced, then went together 
to the platform in the square, where they 
seated themselves in two chairs, one lined 
with red velvet for the captain-general, and 
the other in violet for his majesty. The fat 
and jolly little king felt rather ill at ease, 
seated in state as he was, upon a platform 
surrounded by foreign soldiers ; but he tried 
to take the situation seriously, and listened 
as attentively as he could, while Magellan 
discoursed upon the advantages of adopting 
his religion and allying with his sovereign. 

He answered, through the interpreter, 
that he very much desired to become a 
Christian, but there were some chiefs under 
225 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

him who objected. They were very bad 
men, he said, and, what was more to the 
point, they were so strong that he feared 
he could not bring them to reason. 

''Send for them," commanded Magellan, 
"and / will reason with them." They were 
sent for, and came, though reluctantly, when 
the captain-general told them that unless 
they promised allegiance to their king and 
to his king he would have them killed. He 
threatened to enforce compliance with fire 
and with sword, and they, though sullenly, 
consented to his proposition. 

Magellan thus made himself an ally of the 
King of Cebu, whom he took under his pro- 
tection, and this act was soon to cost him 
his life. He could not foresee, however, 
the terrible consequences of this misstep, 
though his reason should have warned him 
against mingling in the strifes of these peo- 
ple. He could not understand them, for 
they were entirely new to him, and they had 
had their feuds and petty wars for gen- 
erations. Neither could he estimate their 
strength nor their valor, both which were 
great, and were to prove more than he could 
prevail against, with all his ships and sol- 
diers. One of the native chiefs, afterwards 
226 



^'CONVERTING" THE NATIVES 

repenting of his adherence, was proceeded 
against by Magellan, whose soldiers first 
plundered his village and then burned it to 
the ground, leaving behind a cross, the dupli- 
cate of one which was erected in the conse- 
crated square of the capital. 

The king was adjured to worship the cross 
which Magellan caused to be planted in the 
square, and he promised. He was told that 
he must also burn all his idols, of which he 
had a great number, most hideous to behold. 
Some were of wood, some of clay. Those 
made of wood were hollowed out in the 
back, and had large faces with two tusks 
on each side the mouth, like the wild boar, 
which they were evidently intended to 
represent. In fact, these people annually 
consecrated their swine in a strange cere- 
mony performed by two old women, says 
Pigafetta. As this ceremony illustrates the 
barbarous nature of the Cebuites, we have 
no hesitation in quoting it entire. 

They first went around the city beating 
gongs, and carrying two standards made of 
palm bark. When they had assembled a 
crowd in the great square, they spread 
cloths upon the ground and made obeisance 
to the sun. The hog to be killed and con- 
227 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

secrated was bound and placed upon the 
cloths. Then one of the old women blew a 
trumpet of bamboo, which she carried; the 
other bound upon her head a pair of horns, 
in imitation of those the devil is supposed 
to wear, and, dancing and blowing her 
trumpet, called out to the sun. After dan- 
cing and trumpeting about the doomed ani- 
mal for half an hour they were presented 
with a cup of wine, from which one of them 
sprinkled the hog in the region of his heart. 
Then a lance was handed her, which, after 
much brandishing, was suddenly thrust 
through the beast from one side to the 
other, inflicting a mortal wound. 

Dipping the tips of their trumpets in the 
blood that flowed forth in a stream, the old 
hags went around the circle of by-standers, 
marking each one on the forehead; then, 
by means of fire, the hair was removed from 
the skin, the carcass was cut up, and all the 
females present invited to partake. 

The king's idols were very dear to him, 
and he could hardly make up his mind to 
their destruction; but finally he said that 
one of his nephews was sick unto death, and 
if he offended his gods, he certainly would 
die. Magellan told him to burn his idols, 
228 



"CONVERTING" THE NATIVES 

believe in Christ, have the sick man bap- 
tized, and he would soon recover. If he did 
not, they could take his head, which he of- 
fered as a pledge. A procession was formed 
from the great square to the house of the 
afflicted man, where he was found in such 
a serious condition as to be able neither to 
speak nor move. He and all his family were 
baptized, including his two wives and ten 
daughters, and then, when asked by Magel- 
lan how he felt, he replied that, by the grace 
of the Christian's God, he felt very well 
indeed! 

This miracle — for thus it was considered 
— was the means of overcoming all the 
scruples of his majesty, who then consented 
to be baptized, and repeated after Magellan 
that he would ever prove faithful to his 
majesty the King of Spain, swearing thereto 
before an image of the Virgin Mary, and in 
the presence of his followers. His queen, 
also, was baptized, and called Juana, after 
the mother of Charles I., while the king 
received the baptismal name of Don Carlos, 
after the emperor himself. His nephew, the 
prince, was called Don Fernando; the King 
of Mazana, John; and the Moro from Siam, 
who seems to have been converted from 
229 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

Mohammedanism, Christopher. In all, more 
than eight hundred people were ''converted" 
to Christianity and were baptized, in a single 
morning, after which the ships discharged 
their lombards, the musketeers their arque- 
buses, and the king and the captain-general 
embraced each other like brothers. 



XV 

DEATH OF MAGELLAN V 

1521 

THE Queen of Cebu was young and beau- 
tiful, one who saw her states, though 
her Hps and teeth were stained deep red 
from the chewing of betel - nut. Unlike 
her royal consort, the fat and jovial king, 
she wore clothing sufficient to drape her 
figure decently, though her maids of honor 
"were all naked and barefoot, except for a 
girdle of palm-leaves, and all with hair flow- 
ing free." These maidens accompanied the 
queen in order to carry her triple crowns 
made of palm-straw, like a tiara, of which 
she displayed several, besides the one she 
wore on her head. 

Following the example of the king, she 
abandoned her idols entirely, but begged 
Magellan to give her a carved wooden image 
of Jesus, which he did gladly, telling her 
to keep it in their place. He then sprayed 
231 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

her with perfumes, and also her women, 
at which they were exceedingly delighted. 
That the queen treasured her little wooden 
image, and after her those who inherited 
her possessions, may be inferred from the 
fact that it was found in Cebu more than 
forty years afterwards, greatly reverenced 
by the natives, who ascribed many miracles 
to its presence. Thus the place in which 
it was found received the name of the ' * City 
of Jesus," and a monastery was founded 
there, in which the image was preserved. 

Magellan did not confine himself to the 
imparting of religious instruction only, but 
sent a large stock of goods ashore and open- 
ed a shop, or market, for barter. Trade was 
good from the first, and the people were 
ready to fight for such articles as they were 
in need of, giving gold for bronze and iron, 
almost weight for weight. For the less 
valuable things they gave in barter goats 
and kids, pigs, fowl, and rice, so that the 
ships of the fleet once more abounded in 
plenty. These people were very fair in their 
dealings, for "they lived in justice, and gave 
good weights and measures." Their scale 
was an extremely simple contrivance, con- 
sisting of a spear -shaft suspended in the 
232 



DEATH OF MAGELLAN 

middle by a cord, with a bronze basin hung 
by three strings to one arm, and a piece of 
lead, to balance it, on the other. So lavish 
were they of their gold and precious stones, 
that Magellan issued an order forbidding 
promiscuous trading by the sailors, as ''there 
w^ere some who would have given all they 
had for a small amount of gold, and would 
soon have spoiled the trade forever." 

The pious example of Magellan, in erecting 
and then htimbly worshipping the holy cross ; 
his tenderness and generosity towards the 
king and the queen, and his restraint in the 
matter of trade, with his eminent fairness 
towards everybody in all things, aroused 
the enthusiasm of the natives to the highest 
pitch. They brought their idols and laid 
them at his feet — such as had not been 
previously destroyed — and the king's nephew 
who had been restored to health by Magel- 
lan's intervention finding an image which 
had been secreted in his hut by an old 
woman of his family, became so enraged 
that he chastised her severely. He then led 
the way to the shore, where were several 
temples erected in honor of the idols, which 
he and his followers tore down and destroy- 
ed, shouting at the top of their voices, ''Cas- 
233 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

tilia! Castilia!'' as the Tlascalans of Mexico 
had done only a short time before, when 
they marched into Tezcoco with the timber 
for Cortes's flotilla. 

The man who led this mob was the prince's 
brother, ''the bravest and wisest man in 
the island," so he must have reflected the 
universal sentiment; yet only a short time 
elapsed — a few days, in fact — before he was 
seen conducting the chaplain of the fleet to 
his house, with intent to slay him! These 
natives of Cebu were either the most suscep- 
tible, or the most treacherous, of any people 
on earth, judging them by what soon after 
took place, for while they were wrought 
upon by the visit of the Spaniards to offer 
them the warmest of welcomes, to accept 
and adopt their religion — ^falling at their feet 
in worship, from the highest to the lowest — 
they revolted, recanted, and accomplished 
their downfall as quickly as they had raised 
them to the dizzy heights of adulation. 

It was the captain-general's religious en- 
thusiasm that tempted him to court dis- 
aster, by mingling in the affairs of the 
natives. He felt, indeed, that it was his duty 
to bring all the tribes of the great archipelago 
under the influence of his church and re- 
234 



DEATH OF MAGELLAN 

ligion. He had accomplished the conversion 
and apparent subjugation of Cebu's people 
so quickly, and had, to all appearances so 
firmly established Spanish rule and the 
Catholic faith, that he anticipated no more 
trouble in dealing with other islands and 
natives of the Philippines. When, therefore, 
he received a message from a sub-chief in 
the island of Mactan, named Zula, informing 
him that the rajah, Chilapulapu, was op- 
pressing him severely and breathing defiance 
against the King of Spain, Magellan con- 
sidered it his duty to proceed at once to 
Mactan. There was situated, it is thought, 
the village he had destroyed by fire, and 
Chilapulapu may have been the ruler whose 
rights he had infringed in so doing, for he 
could not understand, he said, "why he 
should do homage to the potentate of Cebu, 
whom he had so long held under his thumb." 
Zula had sent a small gift to Magellan, ac- 
companied by a message stating that, owing 
to the oppressions of the rajah, he could do 
no better, and requesting the assistance of 
a boat-load of soldiers. With only a boat- 
load, he said, combined with his own gallant 
warriors, he could overcome the rajah and 
conquer the island for Magellan. 
235 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

In listening to the request of this sub- 
chief, Fernan Magellan allowed his reason 
to be subjected to religious fanaticism; his 
desire to promote the general welfare of the 
islanders to be overcome by a stronger de- 
sire for conquest. He submitted the prop- 
osition to his officers, and they, without 
dissent, were decidedly opposed, especially 
stubborn being Juan Serrao, veteran of 
many fights in the East, and a man of tried 
courage. As usual, however, the captain- 
general had determined upon his course be- 
fore calling a council, and, though all were 
opposed, he had resolved to push matters to 
a conclusion. 

The little island of Mactan lies off the 
harbor of Cebu, only a few miles distant, 
and its invasion was not a matter of diffi- 
culty — provided no opposition w^ere of- 
fered. Shortly before midnight of April 26th, 
Magellan's expedition against Mactan set 
forth: sixty Spaniards, and about a thou- 
sand natives, commanded by the King of 
Cebu. With this expedition went also the 
chief historian of Magellan's voyage, Antonio 
Pigafetta, to whom we are already indebted 
for many details; and as a description of 
events by an eye-witness should be more 
236 



DEATH OF MAGELLAN 

vivid than one by a narrator nearly four 
hundred years removed from the time of 
their occinrence, we will let him tell the 
story. 

''The captain-general decided to go thith- 
er with three boat - loads of soldiers. We 
begged him repeatedly not to go himself, 
but he, like a good shepherd, refused to 
abandon his flock. At midnight, sixty men 
of us set out, armed with corselets and hel- 
mets, together with the Christianized king, 
the prince, and some of the chief men, in 
twenty or thirty balanguais. 

**We reached Mactan three hours before 
dawn. The captain did not wish to fight 
then, but sent a message to the natives by 
the converted Moro, to the effect that if 
they would obey the King of Spain, recog- 
nize the sovereignty of Cebu, and pay us 
tribute, he would be their friend; but that 
if they wished otherwise, they should wait 
to see what our lances could do! 

''They replied that while we had lances, 
they also had them, made of bamboo, with 
points hardened in the fire. They requested 
us not to attack them then, but to wait till 
after daylight, as they expected reinforce- 
ments, with which they could meet us on 
237 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

more nearly equal terms. This was a ruse, 
intended to decoy us at once to the attack, 
for they had dug a long, deep ditch, faced 
with sharp stakes, and our destruction would 
have been sure. 

"The coral reefs, by which Mactan was 
surrounded, prevented the approach of the 
boats near shore, and when morning came 
forty-nine of us leaped into the water up to 
our thighs, and walked through it for more 
than two crossbow-flights before we could 
reach dry land. Eleven men remained be- 
hind to guard the boats and serve the lom- 
bards." Magellan himself led the way, with 
naked sword in hand, and regardless of the 
missiles of the foe, which soon filled the air 
around him. The dawn of that morning, 
Saturday, April 27, 1521, was the last which 
Magellan was to . witness on earth ; but no 
premonition of disaster oppressed him then. 
He and his men struggled through the water 
to shore, and formed upon the sands. Op- 
posed to them were thousands of islanders, 
who, forming in three divisions, so as to 
attack the Spaniards front and flank, charged 
down upon them furiously, brandishing their 
spears, and yelling like mad. 

"When our captain saw that, he formed 
238 



DEATH OF MAGELLAN 

us into two divisions, and thus did we begin 
the fight. The musketeers and cross -bow- 
men shot from a distance for about half an 
hour, but uselessly, as their shots either fell 
short, or passed merely through the shields 
with which the natives were armed. Seeing 
this, our captain cried to them: 'Cease, 
cease firing!' but his order was not heeded. 
When, therefore, the natives saw that we 
were shooting our muskets to no purpose, 
they redoubled their shouts and their efforts 
to break into our ranks. They leaped hither 
and thither, to defeat the aim of the mus- 
keteers, at the same time covering them- 
selves with their shields. They shot so 
many arrows at us, and hurled so many 
bamboo spears tipped with iron at our 
captain-general, besides fire-hardened stakes, 
stones, and mud, that we could scarcely 
defend ourselves. 

''Seeing that, our captain - general sent 
some men to burn their houses, in order to 
terrify them ; but when they saw them burn- 
ing, they were only roused to greater fury. 
Twenty or thirty houses were burned; but 
two of our men were killed, of the party that 
made the attempt. So many of them now 
charged upon us that they pressed us close, 

x6 239 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

and shot our captain through the right leg 
with a poisoned arrow. On that account 
he ordered us to retire slowly, but the men, 
being unaccustomed to defeat, were terrified 
at such an order, and most of them took to 
flight immediately — all except six or eight 
of us, who remained by our captain. See- 
ing that our vulnerable spots were the legs, 
as they were exposed, the natives shot only 
at them, and so many were the spears and 
stones they hurled at us, that we could offer 
no resistance. 

** The mortars in the boats could not aid us, 
being too far away ; thus we were in a terrible 
plight. So we continued to retire, for more 
than a good cross - bow flight from the 
shore, always fighting up to our knees in the 
water. The natives continued to pursue 
us, and picking up the same spears, hurled 
them at us again and again. Recognizing 
our captain, so many turned upon him that 
they succeeded in knocking off his helmet 
twice; but he ever withstood them, like the 
good knight he was, and at last we made a 
stand for more than an hour, refusing to go 
any farther. 

"Finally, an Indian cast a bamboo spear 
into our captain's face; but he set upon and 
240 



DEATH OF MAGELLAN 

killed him instantly with his lance, which 
he left in his body. Then, attempting to 
draw his sword, he was unable to do so, 
because of a wound in the arm by a bamboo 
spear. This act was the sealing of his fate, 
because, when the natives saw that, they all 
hurled themselves upon him. One of them 
gashed his leg with a huge scimitar, which 
caused him to fall forward upon his face, 
when they all rushed upon him with their 
iron-tipped bamboo spears and their scimi- 
tars, and thus they ran him through — our 
mirror of chivalry, our light, our comforter, 
and true guide — and killed him. Thereupon, 
beholding him dead, we, wounded, retreated 
as best we could to the boats, which were 
already pulling off. Had it not been for our 
gallant captain, not a single one of us would 
have been saved, for while he was so desper- 
ately fighting, the others had time to retire 
to the boats. While the savages were most 
closely pressing him, in sooth, he several 
times turned round towards us, to see if we 
were all in safety, as if his protracted re- 
sistance was to cover our retreat." 

Thus fell Fernan Magellan, with his face 
to the foe, sacrificing himself for the safety 
of his comrades. That he threw aw^ay his 
241 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

life for no good cause, having gone to his 
death through his own stubbornness, does 
not detract from the heroism of his latest 
hours, which was nothing less than sublime. 
He was brave and unselfish to the very last, as 
we might have expected of the Fernan Magel- 
lan who rescued his friend Serrao from the 
Malays ; who remained with his men on that 
wreck in the Indian Ocean whence all his 
brother officers had fled. 

''Among other virtues which he possessed, " 
says Pigafetta, he was more constant than 
ever any one else, in the greatest of adversi- 
ties; he endured hunger better than all 
others ; and more accurately than any other 
man in the world did he understand sea- 
charts and navigation. And that this is the 
truth was seen openly, for who else had so 
much natural talent, or the boldness, to 
learn how to circumnavigate the world, as 
he attempted, and had almost accom- 
plished?" 

When the King of Cebu heard of Magel- 
lan's death, he is said to have shed tears, 
and lamented that he could not have saved 
him by going to his rescue. He had been 
expressly forbidden to mingle in the fight, 
as the captain-general wished to show him 
242 




MONUMENT TO MAGELLAN ON THE SPOT WHERE HE 
WAS KILLED 



DEATH OF MAGELLAN 

what Spaniards could do, thus he and his 
thousand men remained idle spectators of 
the battle, though by participation they 
might have turned the scale in favor of 
their allies. With all the fighting, only 
twelve of the allies were killed, and fifteen 
of the enemy, so it appears that the hero 
of the Indian Seas, of the great strait, and 
the Pacific, perished in an avoidable skir- 
mish with barbarians whom he had no rea- 
son whatever to notice. 

The Spaniards, many years ago, raised a 
monument on or near the spot where Magel- 
lan fell — or, at least, on the site of the village 
he attacked and burned in the island of 
Mactan; but more lasting memorials exist, 
in the strait that bears his name, and those 
celestial nebulse — the Magellanic clouds — 
that illumine at night the sky of the southern 
hemisphere. As to monuments and memo- 
rials, or posthumous fame, Fernan Magellan 
seems to have concerned himself but little, 
if at all, thus presenting quite a contrast to 
the great Genoese, Columbus, with whom, 
having achieved a similar success, we natu- 
rally compare him. He was nobler and more 
generous than Columbus, less fanatical, quite 
as persistent, and in nautical knowledge 
243 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

probably surpassed him. Whether or not 
we subscribe to the assertion of a learned 
writer, that he "is undoubtedly the greatest 
of navigators, either ancient or modern," we 
cannot but admit that the world owes him 
a mighty debt of gratitude. 



XVI 

TREACHERY AND MASSACRE 
1521 

IN the afternoon of the day in which 
Magellan was killed a message was sent 
to the victorious Mactans, imploring them 
to surrender his body to the Spaniards for 
burial. They were offered as much merchan- 
dise as they desired in exchange; but the 
chief, Chilapulapu, returned the haughty 
reply that they would not give him up for 
all the riches in the world, as he intended 
to keep him as a memorial of their triumph. 
At the same time, it is said, he sent a messen- 
ger to the King of Cebu, threatening him 
with death, and all his people, unless he 
joined with him and his brother chiefs in 
slaughtering the Spaniards and seizing their 
vessels. 

The Malays are prone to treachery, and it 
is possible that Cebu's ruler had already 
planned the dark deed which he later ex- 
245 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

ecuted; but another story relates that it 
was suggested by Magellan's interpreter, 
Enrique, who, having received a slight 
wound in the fight, was nursing it in his 
bunk, when Duarte Barbosa approached him 
with a demand to go ashore with a message 
for the king. He addressed him at first 
gently, having a feeling of sympathy on 
account of his wound; but when the inter- 
preter answered that he was no longer a 
slave, his master being dead, Barbosa burst 
forth: "What? No longer a slave, and 
Dona Beatrix, my sister, and the Admiral's 
widow, still living? Yet a slave art thou, 
ingrate, and if thou dost not do as I 
command thee, a sound flogging wilt thou 
get!" 

In sullen silence, Enrique arose and re- 
ceived the message, then leaped into a skiff 
and rowed ashore. Instead of going to 
assist the men in removing the goods from 
the warehouse, however, as he had been 
directed, after delivering the message to the 
king he lingered at the palace, afraid to 
return. He had, in fact, rendered his return 
to the fleet impossible, for he had told the 
king that the Spaniards intended to take 
him captive, after first destroying the town; 
246 



TREACHERY AND MASSACRE 

but that, while they were still unsuspicious, 
he might forestall them by a massacre. 

Immediately upon the arrival at Cebu of 
the boats containing the survivors of that 
ill-fated expedition against Mactan, a coun- 
cil was called on board the flag-ship, for the 
election of a captain-general. No one man 
could well replace their lamented commander, 
so a dual command was decided upon, Duarte 
Barbosa and Joao Serrao being chosen. The 
first was Magellan's brother-in-law, and the 
second his most intimate friend, while both 
had seen service in India, with Almeida and 
Albuquerque. These veteran's decided to 
vacate their dangerous position at once, and 
as a first step ordered the goods they had 
sent on shore for barter to be returned to 
the fleet. They knew that their prestige 
was gone, that their days of usefulness at 
Cebu were over, so nothing was to be gained 
by remaining. Three days were thus em- 
ployed and in putting the ships in order 
for departure. 

Meanwhile, the treacherous King of Cebu 
had matured his plans, and on the morning 
of the ist of May, which was Wednesday, 
he sent word to Barbosa that some jewels 
which he had promised to collect as a present 
247 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

to the King of Spain, were ready for delivery. 
In celebration of the event he had prepared 
a feast, to which he invited all the officials 
of the fleet, and as many of the crew as 
chose to come. Barbosa and Serrao con- 
sulted together, and finally agreed to accept 
the invitation; though the latter, from his 
long experience with the islanders, was at 
first suspicious. Accompanied by twenty- 
seven others, they were rowed to the beach, 
where the king and a multitude of his sub- 
jects awaited them. 

They were received with shouts of wel- 
come, and at once escorted in the direction 
of the palace, the people seemingly wild with 
joy. As they were moving slowly along, the 
chaplain of the fleet, Pedro de Valderrama, 
was seized by the king's nephew, and urged 
against his will to go with him to his hut. 
He probably desired the distinction of kill- 
ing the priest with his own hand and in 
his own house; but his action attracted the 
attention of Joao Carvalho, the pilot, who 
twitched Espinosa, the alguacil, by the 
sleeve and said: "See that, Gonzalo! It 
gives me suspicions. Let us drop out, and 
return to the ship. We shall not be missed, 
neither will we miss much by losing the feast !" 
248 



TREACHERY AND MASSACRE 

The two succeeded in worming their way- 
through the throng and reached the shore, 
where they took a boat for the Trinidad. 
They had scarcely arrived when a great com- 
motion ashore attracted their attention, and 
looking towards the land they saw their 
comrades surrounded by clamorous natives, 
who, with spear and kris, were stabbing 
promiscuously. One by one they fell, fight- 
ing desperately to the last, until there was 
left only Captain Serrao, whom the natives 
dragged to the shore, in order to barter his 
life for cannon and other things they had 
hoped to gain by surprising the fleet. 

The caution and watchfulness of Carvalho 
alone prevented them from plundering the 
ships, as he hove up anchor at the first sign 
of disturbance, and, running abreast the 
town, poured into it several broadsides. 
The Victoria and the Concepcion followed 
suit, and then all sailed out of the bay 
towards the open sea, without an attempt 
at the rescue of Serrao, who stood on the 
shore, whither he had been dragged by his 
captors, vainly imploring assistance. He 
was wounded and bleeding, he was the only 
survivor of the party he and Barbosa had 
led to its doom, yet his shipmate and boon 
249 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

companion, Carvalho, refused to send a boat 
ashore for his rescue! At first he wept and 
implored, while his captors, with daggers 
at his throat, awaited the response from the 
ship; but as it became apparent that Car- 
valho was abandoning him to be murdered 
in cold blood, he raised a bleeding hand to 
Heaven and invoked curses upon that com- 
rade, his compadre, who could do a thing so 
base and cowardly. " I pray God," he cried, 
''that He may demand my soul of thee, 
Juan Carvalho, at the last great day of judg- 
ment!" 

"The imprecation ended in a cry of de- 
spair, as his ferocious captors bore him to the 
ground, where they stabbed him to death 
with their daggers. Speechless from terror, 
and seemingly incapable of action, the 
cowardly sailors on board the fleet saw their 
former friends and shipmates massacred. 
They also witnessed, as they were borne to 
safety from the harbor, a great crowd of 
fanatical natives engaged in tearing down 
the cross that had been raised so short a 
time before in the consecrated square. The 
recantation of Cebu's king and his subjects 
was complete, for they promptly returned 
to the worship of their idols, and the only 
250 



TREACHERY AND MASSACRE 

reminder of the religion they had so tran- 
siently professed was the carven image of 
our Saviour (already mentioned) which Ma- 
gellan had presented to the queen. 

Twenty-seven valiant Spaniards and Por- 
tuguese were slain in that massacre, com- 
prised in the list of dead being three captains 
of the fleet's vessels, a pilot, two notaries, a 
priest, a gunner, a cooper, common seamen, 
servants, and sobresalientes, or supernumer- 
aries. All were deeply lamented, of course, 
but there were two in particular, Barbosa 
and Serrao, who were regarded as an irrep- 
arable loss to the fleet. Duarte, or Edward, 
Barbosa, was the son of Don Diego, alcaide 
of the arsenal at Seville. He was born in 
Lisbon, and at an early age went to the 
Indies, where, as clerk in a "factory" at 
Cananor, he became so proficient in the 
Malabar language that he was appointed 
commissioner to negotiate a treaty with the 
Zamorin of Calicut. 

Returning to Portugal, and then going to 
Seville with his father, Duarte Barbosa wrote 
an account of his travels which, though 
called **a most valuable contribution to 
early Oriental affairs," was not published 
until nearly three hundred years after it first 
251 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

appeared in manuscript — Lisbon, 1813. As 
a brother of Beatrix Barbosa, whom Magel- 
lan married, he was said to have been ap- 
pointed sobresaliente on board the Trinidad 
through favoritism ; but he amply proved his 
capacity on several occasions, notably at 
San Julian, where he retook the Victoria 
from the mutineers. He was then appointed 
captain of that vessel, as such ably aiding 
Magellan, and after his death rising to joint 
command of the Trinidad. He was killed 
by a dagger-thrust in the breast. 

Captain Joao Serrao was probably the 
ablest man in the fleet, hardly excepting 
Magellan himself. As pilot and navigator, 
he had served under Vasco da Gama (who 
made him captain of a ship), also under 
Almeida and Albuquerque, and at the battle 
of Cananor fought by the side of Magellan, 
whose desperate valor was equalled only by 
his own. Having served beneath the same 
banner in the East, Magellan and Serrao, 
with their recollection of battles fought and 
hardships endured together, were deeply at- 
tached to each other. Serrao 's services to 
the captain-general were inestimable, first 
as captain and pilot of the Santiago, then as 
commander of the Concepcion, and all the 
252 



TREACHERY AND MASSACRE 

time as a devoted adherent. He endeavored 
to dissuade his stubborn friend from attack- 
ing the natives of Mactan, and if he had 
listened to his advice, Magellan would not 
have met with untimely death at the very 
verge of the sea surrounding the Spice 
Islands.,' 

"We heard of the Moluccas at Cebu, 
before the death of the captain-general," 
says Pigafetta; and but for the Mactan ex- 
pedition, Fernan Magellan might have lived 
to see them. As it was, through his negli- 
gence he not only lost his own life, but in- 
directly brought about the loss of others, 
when, deprived of their sagacious head, the 
officials of the fleet unwisely accepted the 
invitation to that fatal banquet. 

Respecting the death of Serrao, an eye- 
witness says: ''As soon as the men in the 
ships saw the slaughter, they hoisted the 
anchors and tried to set sail. At that 
juncture, the savages brought Juan Serrao, 
one of those whom they desired to ransom, 
and asked two guns, and two bahars of 
copper for him. Serrao told them to take 
him to the ship and he would give them 
what they asked ; but they insisted that those 
things be taken ashore. And the men on 
253 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

the ship, fearing another act of treachery, 
set sail and abandoned that man there, and 
nothing more was ever heard of him." 

Despite his treachery to Serrao, the wretch 
whom fortune had placed in command of 
the flag-ship, Joao Carvalho, was confirmed 
as captain-general of the fleet. It is claimed 
by his enemies that it was owing to his de- 
sire to acquire supreme command that he so 
brutally sailed away and left poor Serrao to 
his fate. Three vessels then comprised the 
armada, and this small fleet was still further 
reduced, after the narrow channel between 
Cebu and Bohol had been passed, by the 
burning of the Concepcion. This vessel was 
found to be leaking badly, and as all the ships 
were then short-handed, owing to the loss 
of so many men, her contents and crew were 
divided between the Trinidad and Victoria. 
These two were all that remained, the first 
week in May, 1 5 2 1 , of the gallant fleet which 
had set sail from Seville nineteen months 
before, for the Santiago's bones were bleach- 
ing on the coast of Patagonia, the San 
Antonio had deserted her companions in the 
Strait of Magellan, and the Concepcion was 
burned to the water's edge off the island of 
Bohol in the Philippines. 
254 



TREACHERY AND MASSACRE 

That same week in which the Concepcion 
was burned and abandoned, the San An- 
tonio and her guilty crew arrived at Seville, 
and promulgated the false statements anent 
Fernan Magellan, whose death, in the far- 
distant Philippines, had occurred just ten 
days previously. By the defection of the 
San Antonio, the fight at Mactan, and the 
massacre in Cebu, the total force in the fleet 
had been reduced to less than one hundred 
and twenty men, for, in round numbers, at 
least eighty had returned to Spain, and 
seventy had died from starvation, fevers, 
and violence. )So it was with its original 
force reduced by more than one -half, and 
the number of its ships by three-fifths, that 
the expedition finally left the Philippines, 
still in pursuit of the * ' Spiceries. ' ' It touched 
at the island of Mindanao, coasted the 
promontory of Zamboanga, and then stood 
across the Sulu Sea for Palawan, or Paragua 
Island, arriving on its east coast with less 
than a week's provisions remaining in the 
ships. 

Palawan, the wandering Argonauts ascer- 
tained, was far out of their course, but it 
was a land ''flowing with milk and honey" 
— or, in other words, abounding in pigs and 

'' 255 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN ] 

poultry, goats, rice, fruits, and sugar-cane. 
They found there ''black men, like those of 
Ethiopia" — the diminutive Negritos; but 
the King of Palawan was a very tall and 
imposing individual — or, at least, he seemed 
so by comparison with the little black men, 
who did not average five feet in height. To 
the northward of Palawan lie Mindoro and 
Luzon, ''where six or eight junks of the 
Chinese go yearly," says Pigafetta, who, in 
common with his companions, either landed 
at or heard mentioned most of the large 
islands in the PhilippinesT]' 

/Palawan, or Paragua, "we called the land 
of promise," he continues, "because we suf- 
fered great hunger before we found it. The 
king made peace with us by gashing him- 
self slightly in the breast with one of our 
knives, and with the blood that issued touch- 
ing the tip of his tongue and his forehead, 
in token of the truest peace, and we did the 
same." The people wore no clothing, and 
were peaceable, but possessed a formidable 
weapon in the poisoned arrow, which they 
projected with great force and accuracy 
through bamboo blow - pipes. With these 
blow-pipes and poisoned arrows the natives 
shot beautiful birds, high up in the great 
256 




NATIVES OF LUZON 



TREACHERY AND MASSACRE 

forest trees, the plumage of which they used 
for decorative purposes. They were a loose 
and easy-going people, whose chief pleasure 
consisted in cock-fights, without which they 
held no feast or festival day to be complete. 
They regarded their fighting-cocks with ven- 
eration, and never ate the flesh of one, no 
matter how hungry they were. 

In the port of Palawan a negro was found 
who had been in the Moluccas, where he 
was baptized as a Christian, he said, and 
where he had learned some Portuguese 
words. He promised to pilot the fleet to 
those islands, and there was rejoicing on 
board, as may be imagined; for not only 
had Magellan overshot the Moluccas by 
nearly fifteen degrees, in laying his course 
across the Pacific, but ever since the de- 
parture from Cebu his leaderless companions 
had been aimlessly cruising about, without 
a guide to direct them. But the negro from 
the Moluccas did not keep his engagement, 
and as, when on the point of sailing, a Moro 
vessel was captured which had come from 
Borneo, its pilots were impressed to guide 
them to this the largest island in the 
world. 

Carvalho and his pilots had heard of 
257 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

Borneo, for it had then been known to the 
Portuguese three or four years; but none of 
them had ever been there. They knew noth- 
ing of its civiHzation, and viewed with won- 
der the tokens of it as the island was ap- 
proached. Three great proas came out to 
meet them as the harbor of its capital was 
neared, each proa decorated in gold, and 
flying a blue-and-white banner surmounted 
with peacock feathers. Beneath the banners 
sat groups of musicians, beating gongs and 
drums; and in this manner, preceded by 
stately proas, and to the sound of martial 
music, the ships entered the beautiful har- 
bor of Brunei, in Borneo. As soon as the 
ships had anchored, a fleet of proas came 
out to take the passengers ashore, where, 
to their astonishment, they found a troop 
of richly caparisoned elephants awaiting 
them. After they had timorously mounted 
the beasts, a procession was formed which 
set out for the sultan's palace, preceded by 
ten men carrying presents in porcelain jars 
covered with silk. The streets of Brunei 
were filled with half -naked warriors bearing 
swords, shields, spears, and cutlasses, while 
the great hall of the palace contained hun- 
dreds of soldiers clad in cloth-of-gold, with 
258 



TREACHERY AND MASSACRE 

daggers on their thighs adorned with pearls 
and precious stones^^ 

The sultan was invisible to the strangers, 
and they were compelled to converse with 
him through a ''speaking-tube"; but he 
consented to admire their presents, and sent 
them to their rooms delighted with his gra- 
ciousness. There, for the first time in many- 
months, they slept on cotton mattresses, 
''whose lining was of taffeta, and the sheets 
of Cambaia." This unwonted luxury caused 
them to sleep till late in the morning, when 
they were regaled at breakfast with capons, 
veal, peacocks, and fish, washed down with 
wine of rice, called arrack^ which they drank 
from dainty cups the size of an egg. They 
returned to the sea-shore as they had come, 
on elephant-back, and each man with his 
hands full of gifts from the sultan. 

'The city of Brunei was built after the 
fashion of the ancient lake-dwellers' towns, 
mainly on piles, above the placid waters 
of a great bay, with waterways for boats, 
instead of streets; but the sultan's palace 
was on dry land. In the river beyond the 
bay were anchored fleets of war -proas, 
manned by fierce - looking Malays, which 
had been constantly increasing in number 
259 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

since the arrival of the ships. Carvalho and 
Espinosa had been watching them suspi- 
ciously several days, for many of them had 
taken position between the ships and the 
sea. One morning, in the last week of July, 
two hundred or more of these proas suddenly 
hove up their anchors and started to sur- 
round the fleet. No sooner had they done 
so, than the commanders met them with a 
discharge of their batteries, then set sail and 
stood out of the harbor. Many proas were 
shattered or overturned, and in open water 
outside the harbor a royal junk was capt- 
ured which was commanded by a prince of 
Luzon as captain-general in Borneo's service. 
He was then returning from a plundering 
expedition and laden with spoils. In ex- 
change for a large portion of his treasure, 
it is said, Captain Carvalho gave him his 
liberty, but he retained as captives three 
beautiful females whom the prince had 
captured and was taking as a present to his 
queen. 

The crafty Carvalho was speedily punished 
for his dereliction from duty, as, by allowing 
the prince to go free in exchange for gold, 
he was prevented from redeeming two of his 
men who, in the haste of departure, had been 
260 



TREACHERY AND MASSACRE 

left ashore at Brunei. One of these was his 
own son by an Indian woman of Brazil ; yet 
he left him without any apparent compunc- 
tions, and probably never heard of him 
more. 

It was a long descent from Magellan to 
Carvalho as commander, and even his coun- 
trymen on board the ship could not endure 
him longer; so they deposed him, sometime 
during the voyage from Borneo to the Mo- 
luccas. They elected Espinosa, the alguacil, 
commander-in-chief, and Juan Sebastian 
del Cano captain of the Victoria. Carvalho 
soon sank out of sight, as he was, after all, 
a man of no great capacity, and met his end 
in an island of the Moluccas, February 14, 
1522. Espinosa, as his successor on the 
Trinidad, soon proved himself inefficient ; but 
he retained command, in spite of his defects, 
until he had brought the gallant flag-ship to 
a watery grave. 



XVII 

THE SPICERIES AT LAST 
1521-1522 

V TT would be a pleasure to tarry, with the 
1 amusing and loquacious Chevalier Piga- 
fetta as guide and companion, on the coast 
of wonderful Borneo; but we must not lose 
sight of the real object we have in mind — the 
route to the Spice Islands. The explorers 
we are following allowed themselves to be 
diverted too easily from their course; first 
by rumors of pearls as big as hen's eggs, and 
"so round that they would not stand still on 
a table," a pair of which pearls were some- 
where on the very sea they were sailing, in a 
junk boimd for Borneo, as a present to its 
sultan. 

They ptirsued and overhauled junk after 
junk, but all to no purpose, and in their 
devious wanderings found themselves back 
again on the coast of Mindanao, which they 
reached by way of the Sulu Archipelago. 
262 



THE SPICERIES AT LAST 

The Sultan of Sulu was the original possessor 
of the pearls, and he owned the richest fish- 
eries in those seas; but, he told the seekers 
for the Spice Islands, those particular pearls 
had been taken from him by pirates from 
Borneo, and he knew not where they were. 
As for the Spice Islands, however, they were 
southeast of his capital; ten degrees they 
must sail, first through the Celebes Sea, then 
into that of the Moluccas, where they would 
find the islands Ternate and Tidor, with 
others, that produced nutmegs, cloves and 
cinnamon. 

This information was confirmed by the cap- 
tain of a piratical proa, which they attacked 
and captured, between Sulu and Mindanao. 
They slew seven of his crew, and they put 
him in irons, so that he was in despair; but 
when he learned that they were in search of 
the Spiceries, he offered to pilot them there, 
provided they gave him his liberty and his 
proa to command again. Most gladly they 
promised, for their provisions were failing 
once more, and after sailing hither and 
thither so many months, on a quest which 
it seemed might be endless, they desired 
rest and refreshment. 

Then said the captain of the piratical 
263 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

proa: "Lo, I can take ye there, for I have 
friends in those islands whom I have visited 
oft. Among them one of your countrymen, 
Francisco Serrao, who was my friend, but 
now is no more, for the King of Tidor caused 
him to be poisoned." Then indeed they 
rejoiced — though their joy was tinctured 
with sadness, to learn of the passing away 
of that gallant Portuguese, Serrao. Upon 
close questioning of the pirate captain, it was 
found that he had been murdered the very 
week that Magellan, his most intimate friend, 
and Joao Serrao, his brother, met death by 
violence at Mactan and Cebu. 

Francisco Serrao, it will be recalled, was 
wrecked on one of the Moluccas, in the year 
15 1 1, while in the King of Portugal's service. 
He gained the confidence of a native ruler, 
the King of Ternate, whom he enriched at 
the expense of the King of Tidor; whose 
beautiful daughter, also, Serrao captured 
and presented to his liege lord. Though ten 
years had passed since that event, the King 
of Tidor held it in remembrance, and having 
lured him to his island, on a pretence of 
trading in spices, poisoned him, out of re- 
venge. 

Thus had perished the reckless soldier, 
264 



THE SPICERIES AT LAST 

Francisco Serrao, who, during at least seven 
or eight years of his residence in the Moluccas, 
had maintained an occasional correspond- 
ence with his dearest friend Feman Magel- 
lan. To him, more than to any other mortal, 
Magellan was indebted for the idea of reach- 
ing the Spice Islands by sailing westward 
from Africa, and for information concerning 
their resources. Francisco Serrao, in fact, 
not only lighted the beacon-flame that guid- 
ed Magellan and beckoned him on, but fed 
that flame for years, in the hope of bringing 
his friend to him at last. He probably knew 
of the expedition commanded by Magellan, 
as the King of Portugal had despatched an 
armada to the Spice Islands for the purpose 
of intercepting and destroying it. Only a 
few months more of life to each, and these 
old comrades would have met ; but the hand 
of grim Death stretched forth and dragged 
them both into the grave. 

With the captive pirate at the helm of the 
flag -ship, the two ships in company sailed 
across the Celebes Sea — or, rather, they skirt- 
ed it, dodging in and out among volcanic isl- 
ands — until finally, in the morning of No- 
vember 6, 1 521, four lofty islands rose on the 
horizon. These, the pilot told them, were the 
265 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

Moluccas, of which they had been in search no 
less than twenty-six months, that being the 
time that had elapsed since they sailed out 
of Seville. Two pointed peaks, they said, 
the conical tips of insular volcanoes covered 
with a vegetation ravishingly beautiful to 
behold, were the cloud- wreathed crowns of 
Ternate and Tidor. As they approached 
them, fragrant gales were wafted to the fleet, 
and the weary sailors needed not to be told 
that here before them, at last, were the long- 
sought, long-looked-for Islands of Spices!/ 

"Three hours before sunset of Friday, 
November 8th," says Pigafetta, ''we entered 
the harbor of an island called Tidor, and 
anchoring near the shore, in twenty fath- 
oms of water, fired off all our artillery as 
a salute to its king. Next day the said 
king came to the ships in a proa, and cir- 
cled about them once. He was seated un- 
der a silk awning; in front of him was 
one of his sons, with the royal sceptre, and 
a person on each side with a gilded casket 
and a gold jar, containing betel-nuts and 
water. The king said to us we were wel- 
come, and that he had dreamt some time 
before that we were coming; for he was an 
astrologer, and his name was Almanzor." 
266 



THE SPICERIES AT LAST 

In short, the new - comers received the 
King of Tidor as Magellan had received the 
Prince of Cebu. The red -velvet chair of 
state was brought out and sat on deck, he 
was clothed in a robe of yellow silk, and 
presented with such articles as beads, knives, 
mirrors, drinking-cups, webs of linen, bales 
of silk, the robe in which he was draped, and 
the chair of state he sat in. 

So rejoiced were the commanders and 
crew at having arrived in these islands much 
desired, that they would have given the 
king whatever he wanted; but he himself 
begged them to desist, as he had nothing 
worthy, he said, to present them in exchange, 
for the acceptance of their king, unless, 
indeed, he sent himself! But he had cloves 
and cinnamon, and for these the ships had 
been laden with goods to barter many, many 
months before. The spices. King Almanzor 
informed his guests, were on the way to the 
coast, being products of the interior coimtry, 
and especially of the mountain districts, 
where the fragrant groves covered hills and 
vales alike. 

So anxious were the Spaniards to please 
this king of the Spiceries that they presented 
him with the three beautiful females taken 
267 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

from the Prince of Luzon, for his harem, 
and as he was a "Moro," or Mohammedan, 
they killed all the pigs on board the two 
ships, in order not to offend his religious 
sensibilities. For the Spaniards knew quite 
well that they were trespassing upon a 
Portuguese dependency, and that this same 
sovereign was bound by treaty to trade 
exclusively with their rivals. 

Only by suff ranee, they realized, could 
they procure the precious spices they had 
come so far to find, and the sultan was 
treated as though he were, "in very truth, 
a king." This policy had its effect, as was 
soon shown by the stream of runners from 
the country, each one bearing on his back 
a bale of cloves. The trading then ' ' waxed 
fast and furious," for not only the factors 
of the ships began purchasing, but all the 
common sailors as well, each man being 
entitled to a quintalada, or percentage of 
the lading-space aboard ship, ranging from 
eighty quintals allowed the captain-general, 
to a quintal and a half for a sailor. 

Trading began on the night of November 

24th, at which time the van-guard of the 

spice-army arrived. The sultan launched 

his proa, with its gorgeous banners and 

268 



THE SPICERIES AT LAST 

silken awnings, and, with drums beating 
furiously, circled around the ships, which 
saluted him repeatedly by discharges of 
cannon, "for the joy that was felt over the 
arrival of the cloves." The first loads were 
scarcely aboard the ships, when the sultan 
invited officers and crews to join him at a 
banquet in his palace among the palm-trees 
on shore; but, with the horrors of Cebu's 
massacre in mind, the invitation was de- 
clined. 

The king was not offended thereby, but 
continued friendly, for there was great rivalry 
between him and several other sovereigns 
for the trade and good- will of the Spaniards. 
In this merry war joined the kings of Ter- 
nate, of Batchian, and Gilolo, who vied with 
each other in their efforts to win the regard 
of the strangers. The first sent vast quan- 
tities of cloves, the second a slave for the 
Emperor of Spain, and the third skins of the 
bird-of -paradise, which had never been seen 
by Spaniards before. These skins were with- 
out feet, and this fact, together with their 
wonderfully beautiful plumage, led the Span- 
iards to believe what the natives told them : 
that the birds descended from paradise, where 
they lived with the souls of the saints ; that 
269 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

they never touched the earth, but pursued a 
strictly aerial existence, ever floating about 
in the air, not even alighting in trees. 

Judging from the regal state of these isl- 
and sovereigns, they were kings, indeed, and 
more than semi -savage chiefs. The King 
of Tidor, for example, had a palace in town 
and another in the country, with a hundred 
wives in each. When he ate he sat alone, 
or with the wife he loved best, in a high 
gallery, with the other ninety-and-nine look- 
ing on in admiration. When he had finished, 
they were permitted to partake, or remove 
from the table what they liked best and eat 
it alone in their chambers. This king had 
eight sons and eighteen daughters; but the 
Moro kings of Gilolo surpassed him, for one 
rejoiced in the possession of six hundred 
children, and the other five hundred and 
twenty-five. At least, this is what the 
veracious Pigafetta tells us; though he 
probably received his information at second- 
ha^cid. 

! While the Spaniards were so merrily lading 
tlieir ships with the spices they had come so 
far to procure, and enjoying to the utmost 
the material delights of these paradisiacal 
isles, they were reminded occasionally, by 
270 



THE SPICERIES AT LAST 

mmors from Ternate, that they were yet 
in a position of peril. These islands were 
considered appanages of Portugal, because a 
Portuguese navigator had, first of all Euro- 
peans, visited and traded with them. One 
day there came over from Ternate a Portu- 
guese named Lorosa, who informed them 
that not long before a fleet of armed traders 
under Don Tristan de Meneses had been 
there, looking for Magellan as well as for 
trade. The King of Portugal had also sent 
an armada to the Cape of Good Hope, in 
order to intercept that "renegade," as well 
as one to the coast of Patagonia; but all 
had failed to find and capture him. It was 
almost time, however, he said, for the fleet 
to return, and in case of its coming the 
Spaniards would certainly be in peril, for 
although Portugal and Spain were at peace 
as to the Iberian Peninsula, they were likely 
to war over their colonial possessions; and 
the coming armada was a strong one, far 
surpassing in tonnage, guns, and men that 
of ihe Spaniards. 

This information caused the commanders 
such anxiety that they hurried forward the 
lading by night and by day. By mid- 
December both ships had so much cargo 

i8 271 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

that no more could be taken without risk 
of over-lading, and the king was told that 
soon they must take their departure. He 
was both astonished and grieved, says Piga- 
fetta, and immediately went to the flag-ship 
to express his displeasure. 

' * He said that we should not depart then, 
for that was not the season for sailing among 
those islands. However, if it was our de- 
termination to depart then, we should take 
back all our merchandise, else all the kings 
roundabout would say that the King of Tidor 
had received so many presents from so great 
a king, and had given nothing in return; 
and that, also, they would think we had 
departed only for fear of some treason, and 
would always call him a traitor. Then he 
had his Koran brought, and, first kissing it 
and placing it four or five times above his 
head, at the same time muttering certain 
words to himself, he declared in the presence 
of all that he swore, by Allah and the Koran, 
that he would always be faithful to the King 
of Spain. He spoke all those words nearly 
in tears, and in sympathy for him we prom- 
ised to wait yet a few days longer; but not 
many, as the time had come to go." 

While the sailors were awaiting orders to 
272 



THE SPICERIES AT LAST 

sail, they amused themselves by making ex- 
cursions into the country, where they found 
fruits and flowers in profusion. On one of 
these trips they met a strange procession 
consisting almost entirely of women, each 
woman nude to the waist, but with a silken 
skirt from the waist to the knees. On their 
heads they bore large wooden trays filled 
with food, as also jars of wine. Some of the 
men followed them and ascertained that they 
were taking the material for a banquet to 
the King of Batchian, then a guest of the 
King of Tidor, who received them sitting on 
a carpet, beneath a red-and-yellow canopy. 
Perceiving the Spaniards on their return, 
some of the women captured several, and 
refused to allow them their freedom until 
they had made presents to the company. 
When the king heard of this adventure, he 
warned the Spaniards against going abroad 
at night, as there were certain men in his 
island who, though headless, could see in 
the dark, and who rubbed a poisonous oint- 
ment on the faces of all strangers they met, 
from which they fell sick and died. 

The inhabitants of the islands in general 
were so peace-loving and gentle, and the 
islands themselves so entrancingly sweet and 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

attractive, with their various vegetation and 
delicious atmosphere, that the strangers felt 
more disposed to remain than to depart. 
But the time arrived when, as the winter 
monsoon had set in, they must take their 
leave of the hospitable king and his beautiful 
island. They had found the famed Spice 
Islands even more attractive than had been 
represented to Magellan; and many there 
were on board the ships who sighed at 
thought of him in his grave at Mactan, 
while they were enjoying what he had given 
his life for them to find. 

New sails were bent to the ships; a ban- 
ner adorned with the cross of St. James flew 
from the mast-head of the flag-ship; eigh- 
ty barrels of water and heaps of sandal- 
wood cumbered the decks of each vessel; 
the holds were filled with fragrant spices, 
which, together with vast quantities of 
native provisions, had taken the place of 
tons of goods brought for barter. Every- 
thing was in readiness for departure on the 
morning of December i8th, with the pilots 
and navigators gathered around the helms, 
the seamen at their stations, and the kings 
of Tidor, Batchian, and Gilolo in their royal 
proas, with their musicians drumming and 
274 



THE SPICERIES AT LAST 

trumpeting like mad. A gun was fired as a 
signal, and the Victoria, first a weigh, stood 
out of the harbor and made for the outlet 
amid the coral reefs. Finding that she was 
not followed, her commander, Del Cano, 
ordered the sails aback, then, with some 
anxiety, the helm about, and returned to 
the harbor. 

What was the consternation of the Vic- 
toria's crew, to find their consort incapaci- 
tated from proceeding by a leak, through 
which the water rushed with great force. 
It was discovered by a sailor, at the time the 
order was given to ''up anchor and away." 
A consultation was held, at which the com- 
manders of the two ships and the King of 
Tidor were present, and it was soon decided 
that, the Trinidad being unable to proceed in 
her leaky condition, the Victoria should sail 
alone, in order to avail of the eastern mon- 
soon, then at its height, and most favorable 
for the intended voyage to the Cape of Good 
Hope. 

The most timorous of her crew, and the 
invalids, were put ashore, the cargo was 
lightened of some six thousand pounds of 
cloves, and then, after the disappointed sail- 
ors on board the flag-ship had written let- 
275 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

ters to their friends at home — few of whom 
were ever to see any of them again — the 
soHtary vessel again turned her prow tow- 
ards the harbor - mouth. The sailors wept 
and huzzaed, lombards woke the echoes of 
the mountains by repeated discharges, and 
the King of Tidor, with the prince, and his 
suite, waved the voyagers farewell from 
the Trinidad's deck. Fifty -three Portuguese 
and Spaniards were left aboard the flag-ship, 
and forty-seven sailed in the departing Vic- 
toria- — all that remained — a total of one hun- 
dred — of the number that had sailed from 
Seville. 

While the fortunate Victoria is threading 
the labyrinths of the Moluccan Archipelago, 
let us pause for a space beside the hapless 
Trinidad, and after glancing at her condi- 
tion, follow her to the end of her career — 
which was short and sorrowful. The crew 
worked desperately at the pumps, during a 
day and a night, but were unable to gain on 
the leak. Then the King of Tidor sent for 
his most expert divers, who, with hair 
hanging loose, in order to locate the inrush 
of water, crawled along the keel beneath the 
bottom for hours, but without avail. The 
leak could not be discovered, and it was 
276 



THE SPICERIES AT LAST 

necessary to beach the vessel, discharge her 
cargo, and remove her artillery to shore, 
that she might be careened and thoroughly 
overhauled. 

The king loaned Captain Espinosa two 
hundred carpenters, who worked by shifts for 
months, and finally, on April 6, 1522, the 
Trinidad departed from Tidor, with the port 
of Panama as the destination her command- 
er hoped to attain. Fifty -four men were 
left to her, and she carried almost a ton 
of cloves to each member of her crew — 
or fifty tons in all. But neither vessel, 
cargo, nor crew was to reach their destina- 
tion, for, pursued by one misfortune after 
another, the voyage was made but haltingly. 
Even before the Ladrones were reached the 
provisions began to fail, and, as the algua- 
cil-captain, Espinosa, persisted in sailing a 
northeasterly course, directly in the teeth 
of head- winds and howling gales, inevitable 
disaster was the result. The main-mast was 
lost in a gale of five-days' duration, and the 
ship compelled to turn about and limp back- 
ward to the Moluccas, where she arrived just 
in time to be captured by a Portuguese fleet 
under Antonio de Brito. 

With seven ships and three hundred men 
277 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

at his command, De Brito did not long 
hesitate as to the course to pursue. He 
took possession of the crippled Trinidad, her 
log-books, nautical instruments, and cargo; 
but most of the cloves were lost in a gale 
while she was unlading, and in which she 
drifted ashore and went to pieces. 

That was not quite the last of Magellan's 
unfortunate flag-ship, however, for her tim- 
bers were used in the construction of a 
Portuguese fort in Ternate. Her captain 
and crew were imprisoned, and treated with 
such barbarity that no less than fifty of 
them perished, only four surviving to reach 
their native land. Espinosa was one of the 
four who, wasted and wan, arrived in Spain 
early in 1525. They were graciously re- 
ceived by the emperor; but though Espinosa 
was granted a pension and a patent of 
nobility, he was denied payment for his 
services while a prisoner, on the ground that, 
being a prisoner, he could then render no 
service. And the victim of this unparalleled 
meanness on the part of Spain had endured 
sufferings untold in defence of her honor! 



XVIII 

VOYAGE OF THE VICTORIA 

December, 1521-September, 1522 

THE first vessel that accomplished the 
circumnavigation of the globe, was of 
only eighty-five tons capacity, and smaller 
than the average coasting-craft in American 
waters to-day. She was next to the smallest 
in the fleet of five with which Magellan had 
set out, the Santiago (which was wrecked 
on the Patagonian coast), having been ten 
tons her inferior. We now know the fate of 
the others : that the largest returned to Spain 
from the Strait; that the second, which was 
the flag-ship, went to pieces during a gale in 
the Spice Islands ; and the third was burned 
in the Philippines. 
LWe will now follow after the little Victoria, 
as she scuds before the spicy gales blowing 
from the Celebes, seeks to avoid the foam- 
crested breakers that encircle innumerable 
coral islands, and finally slips through the 
279 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

reef - guarded passages leading to the great 
Indian Ocean. She left Tidor, which is very 
nearly beneath the equator, on December 
2ist, and some time Christmas week passed 
between Xulla and Bouru, islands peopled 
by cannibals, but, aside from their savage 
inhabitants, veritable Edens of delight, with 
every kind of delicious fruit known to tropi- 
cal regions. 

The first week in January, 1522, found the 
solitary craft and her gallant crew seeking 
a clear-water opening among the numerous 
islands lying between Timor and Flores. On 
one of these a landing was made, for the 
vessel needed repairs, and fifteen days were 
spent in putting her in shape for the long 
stretch thence to the east coast of Africa. 
Ombay was the name of the island, the 
natives of which,, says Pigafetta, were savage 
and bestial. They went naked, except when 
on the war-path, at which time the men 
wore goat and buffalo tails attached to 
their waists, ornamented with shells. They 
wore their hair done up on cane combs, and 
their beards wrapped in banana leaves and 
thrust into tubes of bamboo — a ' ' most ridicu- 
lous sight," says the Chevalier, who also calls 
them the ugliest people who live in the Indies, j 
280 



VOYAGE OF THE VICTORIA 

These may have been the ugliest, but he 
heard of others, from an old pilot who had 
come from Tidor, that surpassed them in 
grotesque appearance, for they were, he 
said, only a cubit in height, and had ears as 
long as themselves. They went entirely 
naked, ran swiftly, and lived in caves under- 
ground, where they slept at night, using one 
ear as a bed and the other as a coverlet! 
Their place of residence was one of the Aru 
islands; but the voyagers did not visit it, 
owing to adverse currents and shoals, and 
thus the pilot's story could not be verified. 

At the north end of Timor, an island 
more than three hundred miles in length, 
the voyagers landed to secure provisions. 
''Inasmuch as we had but few things," says 
Pigafetta, "and hunger was constraining us, 
we retained in the ship a native chief, who, 
for fear lest we kill him, immediately sent 
for and gave us six buffaloes, five goats, and 
tv/o swine. For thus had we placed the 
condition of his ransom." This chief and 
his people were heathen, but they knew the 
value of the precious sandal -wood which 
their island produced in abundance, and to 
trade in which came junks from as far as 
Luzon in the Philippines. When they went 
281 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

to cut the sandal- wood, our chronicler ob- 
serves, the devil was wont to appear to them 
in various forms, and tell them that if they 
needed anything they had only to ask for 
it. This apparition always made them ill, 
but still they continued to cut the sandal- 
wood, though only at certain periods of the 
moon, as otherwise it would not be good. 

The stories told by Pigaf etta at this period 
of his voyage were mostly obtained from the 
several pilots taken on board at different 
islands, and hence their variety. The Vic- 
toria left Tidor with sixty men, all told, 
forty-seven of whom were Europeans, and 
thirteen natives, including the pilots. These 
were exchanged for others as the voyage 
proceeded: at Xulla, Bouro, Ombay, and 
finally at Timor, where a grizzled old Malay 
from Sumatra took the helm for that long 
run across the Indian Ocean. Setting sail 
from the southwestern tip of Timor, on 
February nth, 1522, the voyage of vast- 
ness was actually begun. Then ensued days, 
weeks, and months of monotonous sailing, 
during which there appeared no speck of 
sail or land to greet the weary seamen. 
Then it was, after having written up his 
notes of the Philippines and the Spice 
282 



VOYAGE OF THE VICTORIA 

Islands, that Pigafetta, at loss for new- 
material, cultivated the acquaintance of the 
old pilot, and from him obtained some won- 
derful stories, indeed. Here follows one of 
them: 

*'Our oldest pilot told us that in an island 
called Acoloro, which lies below Java Major, 
there are found no persons but women, who 
never marry, and if any men go to that 
island of theirs, they kill them — if they are 
able to do so. 

**He also told me that there is found a 
very huge tree, in which live birds called 
garada, so large that they capture and carry 
elephants and buffaloes to their nests in that 
tree. No junk or other craft can approach 
to within three or four leagues of that place 
of the tree, because of the great whirlpools 
of water round about it. The first time 
anything was learned of that tree was from 
a little boy, who was in a junk which was 
wrecked in the whirlpool, and somehow was 
cast up alive on the shore. He climbed into 
the tree without being discovered, where he 
hid beneath the wing of one of those birds 
when it was asleep. Next morning the bird 
flew over to the main and seized a buffalo, 
when the boy came out from under his wing 
283 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

as best he could, and thus the story was 
learned from him." 

Tales no less marvellous the veteran told 
him of China and the farther Indies, then 
but little known. ''Six different classes of 
people," he said, ''inhabited the coast of 
India Major. The Nairi are the chiefs, and 
the Panichali are the towns-people, which two 
classes never mix together ; the Iranai gather 
the palm- wine and figs; the Pangilini are 
the sailors; the Macurai are the fishermen; 
the Poleai are the farmers and harvest the 
rice. These last always live in the country, 
although they enter the city at times. When 
anything is given them it is laid on the 
ground, and they take it. - When they go 
through the streets they call out 'Po, po^ 
pof — that is, 'Beware of me!' Now it 
happened, as we were told, that a Nair once 
had the misfortune to be touched by a 
Polea, for which he immediately had the 
latter killed, so that he might erase that 
disgrace." 

In this manner : garnering information for 
future generations to read, hundreds of 
years after he had passed away,, the indus- 
trious Pigafetta passed' the lagging hours 
and days, weeks, and even months, building 
284 



VOYAGE OF THE VICTORIA 

a monument to himself and to his former 
commander which may be termed imper- 
ishable. Another, at least, on board the 
Victoria, won by that voyage a reputation 
which has outlasted centuries and still is 
great. This was Juan Sebastian del Cano, 
who, placed in command by mere circum- 
stance, after Magellan, Barbosa, and Serrao 
had been killed, and Carvalho deposed, 
proved himself a navigator of no mean 
capacity. As captain of the Concepcion he 
had not previously been prominent, except 
in the mutiny at Port Julian, when he con- 
ducted himself discreditably; but as master 
of the Victoria he won the immortal honor 
of navigating his ship from the Moluccas to 
Spain, thus completing the first recorded 
circumnavigation of the globe. 

In the Indian Ocean he was sailing un- 
charted waters, though they had first been 
ploughed by Vasco da Gama, twenty-five 
years before. But the east coast and the 
west coast of Africa were by this time well 
known by their landmarks, so that when 
Cape Agulhas was sighted, on May i8th, Del 
Cano and his pilots knew that the dreaded 
Cape of Storms was not far away. They 
had erred both in latitude and longitude; 
28s 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

but they finally passed the Cape of Good 
Hope in safety, though in doing so the ship 
lost her foretopmast, and sprung her fore- 
yard. They had voyaged from the equator to 
latitude forty degrees south, and had ranged 
through the seasons, from torrid to temper- 
ate ; now they must creep up again, towards 
and beyond the equator, nearly eighty de- 
grees. 

Slowly and painfully they crawled along 
the west coast of Africa, counting one by 
one the degrees, going from cold to heat 
again, and suffering dreadfully. Twenty- 
one of their number died from exposure and 
privation, and were thrown overboard. Some 
of these were Indians, but most were white 
men. When they were cast into the sea, 
says Pigafetta, "the Christians went to the 
bottom face upward, but the Indians face 
downward" — though this may have been a 
mere notion of the Chevalier. 

On the other side of Africa, when off 
Mozambique, the crew were so enfeebled 
from famine and disease they seriously 
thought of making for that Portuguese 
colony ; but they held on three months longer, 
until Cape Verde was reached, when they 
could endure no more. Frequent stopping 
286 



VOYAGE OF THE l/'ICTOR!A 

for repairs to the ship detained them, 
scurvy and famine brought them to death's 
door; but at last the equator was crossed 
(June 8th), and a month later they reached 
Santiago, of the Cape Verde Islands. 

It might be thought that these heroes of 
the greatest voyage ever undertaken, having 
endured to the limit of human nature, and 
finding themselves compelled to put in at a 
Christian port, would have been received 
with open arms ; but such was not to be their 
reception. They knew the Portuguese for 
despicable villains, whose greed and envy 
would incite them to arrest any one whom 
they suspected of having trespassed upon 
their territory, and so Del Cano called a 
consultation. 

''Necessity compels, as ye know," he said 
to his officers, "else would I go on. Now, 
what excuse can we make — what story can 
we tell, that these jealous varlets will be- 
lieve?" 

"Let us tell them that we have come from 
America," said one. "And that we lost our 
foretopmast crossing the line," said another; 
and this was the tale told by the sailors who 
were sent ashore for provisions, while the 
ship lay off and outside the harbor. The 
19 287 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

story was believed, and two boat-loads of 
rice were obtained. That amount might 
last them to Spain, with economy; but it 
were better to have enough, Del Cano said, 
after having suffered from famine so long, 
so the boat was sent in again. This time it 
did not come back, and when the ship en- 
tered the harbor cautiously, to inquire as to 
the reason, several caravels were seen mak- 
ing preparations to meet her, their crews 
hastily hoisting sails and anchors, while the 
quays near which they were lying were in 
tumult. No further evidence was needed 
to tell the fate of the crew, one of whom, 
in fact, had excited suspicion by boasting, 
when drinking in a wine-shop, of their valu- 
able cargo of cloves. All sail was spread at 
once, and, leaving the hapless thirteen (who 
comprised the boat's crew), in the hands of 
their enemies, the eighteen survivors aboard 
the Victoria scurried off as fast as the wind 
could carry them. 

^ It was at Cape Verde that the captain 
and pilots learned, to their great astonish- 
ment, that they had lost a day on the voy- 
age. The men who first went ashore were 
charged to ask what day it was, and were 
told it was Thursday ; though by the reckon- 
288 



VOYAGE OF THE VICTORIA 

ing on board it was Wednesday. They were 
greatly puzzled, and not until the matter was 
later submitted to a ''great philosopher and 
astronomer, a man of singular learning," 
was it explained to the satisfaction of all. 
"We could not see how we had made a mis- 
take," says the conscientious Pigafetta, "for, 
as I had always kept my health, I had set 
down every day without interruption. How- 
ever, as was told us later, it was no error; 
but, as the voyage had been made con- 
tinually towards the west, and we had re- 
turned to the same place as does the sun, we 
had made that gain of twenty-four hours, as 
is clearly seen." 

It was not so clearly seen at the time, and 
thus became a theme of discussion during 
the remainder of the voyage, which was un- 
eventful, though it consumed nearly two 
months more. The ship was exceedingly 
foul, and sailed so slowly that the provi- 
sions were at low ebb again when, on Sep- 
tember 6th, the coast of Spain was sighted, 
near Cadiz, and at evening the harbor of 
San Lucar was entered. Two days later, 
the Victoria tied up at the mole in Seville, 
on the Guadalquivir, where she was board- 
ed by excited thousands, and welcomed by 
289 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

repeated peals of artillery. The eighteen 
survivors were regarded with awe as well as 
with pity and tenderness, for they had been 
considered as lost, long months before, and 
their advent was as if the ocean depths had 
opened and given them up. They were 
overwhelmed with attentions, and invita- 
tions showered upon them to homes of 
high and low — from the bereaved relatives 
of their comrades who had died, and from 
those impelled merely by curiosity to see 
and converse with men who had per- 
formed the wonderful voyage around the 
globe. 

But, before accepting the hospitality of 
Seville, the men had a vow to perform, and 
all who were able to walk marched barefoot, 
clad only in their shirts, and carrying candles 
in their hands, to the sacred shrine of St. 
Mary of Victory, after whom their gallant 
ship had been named. Then they dispersed, 
to become the guests of Seville for a space; 
to tell the stories of their hardships once and 
again, then to fall out of sight and be for- 
gotten. In the flush of enthusiasm, how- 
ever, they were taken to visit the emperor, 
who received them at court, (together with 
the thirteen left at Cape Verde, who had been 
290 



VOYAGE OF THE VICTORIA 

sent to Spain in a ship returning from India.) 
They were promised many favors, but few of 
them received any rewards for their sufferings ; 
and on the contrary, some were compelled to 
bring suit for payment of their just claims 
against the crown. 

There was one, however, whose reward 
was thought to be more than commensurate 
for services rendered, and this one was the 
man whom fortune had made master of the 
Victoria — though another, far more skilled, 
was its navigator — Juan Sebastian del Cano. 
He was overwhelmed with honors: given a 
pension of five hundred ducats per annum, 
and granted a coat - of - arms, which w^as a 
spicy reminder, indeed, of the cargo he had 
brought safely into port, and which, terrible 
as the losses had been, more than compen- 
sated the total outlay on the fleet. The value 
of the cargo exceeded twenty-five thousand 
dollars, and as it consisted of spices, Del 
Cano's coat-of-arms contained two cinnamon 
sticks "in saltier proper," three nutmegs, and 
twelve cloves. Emblazoned on the shield, 
above the nutmegs, cinnamon, and cloves, 
was a golden castle. The crest above was a 
globe, with the motto: ''Primus circum- 
desti me,'' and the ''supporters" were two 
291 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

Malay kings, crowned, and holding in the 
exterior hand a spice-tree branch. 

Juan Sebastian del Cano did not live long 
to enjoy his honors, for within three years 
after his return he sailed on another expedi- 
tion, in Magellan's track, and died at sea, 
off the Pacific coast of South America. 

The return of the Victoria's crew, of course, 
refuted the stories spread by Gomez and his 
comrades, sixteen months before, and set 
at liberty the unfortunate Mesquita, who 
had captained the San Antonio when she 
was taken by the mutineers. For twenty- 
two months he had been a prisoner, first on 
board ship, where he was ironed and tor- 
tured, after having been poniarded, and 
then in the calaboose at Seville. He was 
released, but received no redress, nor were 
the authors of his misfortunes, the mutineers, 
ever punished for their conduct in rebelling 
against the king's authority, and in putting 
Magellan's expedition in jeopardy. On the 
contrary, they were, as Diego Barbosa, 
Magellan's father-in-law, bitterly complained 
to the king, "well received and treated at 
the king's expense, while the captain and 
others were imprisoned and deprived of all 
justice." 

292 



VOYAGE OF THE VICTORIA 

It wotild seem the basest ingratitude for 
us to forget the gentleman to whom we have 
been often indebted for material which has 
formed a portion of our history : the Chevalier 
Pigafetta — or Pagaphetta — as he sometimes 
signed himself. The last time we saw him 
he was marching in procession, with a candle 
in his hand, to the shrine of Victory. Leav- 
ing Seville, he says at the conclusion of his 
narrative, he went to Valladolid, where he 
presented to his "Sacred Majesty," Don 
Carlos, "neither gold nor silver, but things 
very highly esteemed by such a sovereign. 
Among other things, I gave him a book, 
written by my own hand, concerning all the 
matters that had occurred from day to day 
during the voyage . " He then went to France , 
and later to Italy, where he established him- 
self permanently, and where he died in 1534. 

The expedition which Magellan had planned 
and commanded returned without one of 
his name, or one in any way related, on 
board the last surviving ship, for he and 
Duarte Barbosa had perished in the Philip- 
pines, and a cousin, Martin Magellan, died 
of starvation off the Cape of Good Hope, on 
the homeward voyage. Fernan Magellan's 
son Rodrigo died soon after his father 
293 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 

was killed, and his wife, Dona Beatrix, 
"after living in sorrow, from the tidings of 
his death, widowed and chastely," died of 
heart-break, six months before the siirvivors 
returned. Of those related to Magellan 
who bade him God-speed at his departure 
from Seville, only the aged comendador, 
Diego Barbosa, remained to welcome back 
those survivors, as the last representative 
of his family. 



i 



INDEX 



Abreu, Capt. Antonio d', 
49. 

Acoloro Island, 283. 

Albicore, a fish, 191. 

Albuquerque, Dom Affon- 
so, second viceroy of In- 
dia, 37, 39, 46, 47; death 
of, 44. 

Almanzor, King of Tidor, 
266, 267. 

Almeida, Dom Francesco 
d', India's first viceroy, 
15, 28, 29, 31, 36, 37; 
killed by Kafirs, 43. 

Alvarez, Sebastian, Portu- 
guese spy, 100-106. 

Alvaro, Dom, of Portugal, 
68. 

Anchediva, island in Ind- 
ian Ocean, 27. 

Argensola, Bartolomeo, 
Spanish author, 8, 50. 

Azarnor, city of Morocco, 
54, 56. 

Balanghai, Filipino boat, 
204, 207. 

Barbosa, Beatrix, 69 ; mar- 
ried to Magellan, 70; 
home life of, no ; death 

of. III. 

Barbosa, Dom Diego, Ma- 
gellan's father-in-law, 69 ; 

29 



complains to king, 292; 
survives Magellan, 294. 

Barbosa, Duarte, Magel- 
lan's brother-in-law, 146; 
assists in quelling muti- 
ny, 147; captain of Vic- 
toria, 154; promotion of , 
247; life-sketch of, and 
death, 251, 252. 

Batchian, King of, 269, 273. 

Belem, church and monas- 
tery of, 18. 

Birds-of-paradise, 269. 

Blood-brotherhood, cere- 
mony of, 205, 220. 

Bohio, native hut, 132, 
136, 165. 

Bonito, fish, 191. 

Borneo, first visited by 
Spaniards, 258; Sultan 
of, 259. 

Bouro Island, 280, 282. 

Brazil, cannibals of, 133; 
naked natives of, 135. 

Brunei, Borneo, harbor and 
city of, 258, 259. 

CaBO DE ToDOS LOS TOR- 
MENTOS, 8, 

Cabo Deseado (Desired 

Cape), 186, 187. 
Cabot, Sebastian, on coast 

of South America, 137. 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 



Cabral, Pedro Alvarez, dis- 
covers Brazil, 6, 12. 

Caliban, Shakespeare's, a 
Carib, 167. 

Calicut, situation of, 32; 
Zamorini of, 31-33. 

Cananor, city of, 30-32; 
battle of, 33. 

Cannibals of Brazil and 
West Indies, 133. 

Cano, Juan Sebastian del, 
captain of Victoria, 261, 
275; sketch of, 285; 
navigates Victoria to 
Spain, 289; honored, 
291; death at sea, 292. 

Canoas (or canoes) of Bra- 
zil, 132. 

Cape Horn, when discov- 
ered and first doubled, 
174. 

Cape of Good Hope, 8. 

Cape of the Thousand 
Virgins, 171. 

Cartagena, Juan de, cap- 
tain of San Antonio, 116, 
121, 123, 127; placed in 
irons, 128; incites muti- 
ny, 1 43 ; court - martial- 
ed, 150; left on a deso- 
late island, 152, 169. 

Carvalho, Juan, Magellan's 
pilot, 131, 133; detects 
treachery of Filipinos, 
248; abandons Serrao, 
250; captain-general of 
fleet, 252; attacks pi- 
rates, 260; end of, 261. 

Casi casi, or blood-brother- 
hood, 205, 220. 

Cebu, island of, 216; first 
seen by Magellan, 217; 
King of, 218, 220, 223, 



225, 226, 236, 242, 245; 
massacres Spaniards, 

247-250- 

Cebu, natives of, 234. 

Cebu, Queen of, 231. 

Celebes Sea, 263, 265. 

Charles, King of Spain, 71, 
72; receives Magellan, 
76; agrees to provide a 
fleet, 77; in need of 
money, 97. 

Chilapulapu, Rajah of Mac- 
tan, 235; resists Span- 
iards, 237-240; retains 
corpse of Magellan, 245. 

Coca, Antonio de, captain 
of San Antonio, 129. 

Cochin, India, 30, 32. 

Concepcion, one of Magel- 
lan's ships, 84, 116; in 
hands of mutineers, 144, 
150; burned at sea, 254. 

Cortereals, voyage of the, 
106. 

Costa, Alvaro da, Magel- 
lan's enemy, 79, 80; 
letter of, 81-83; threat- 
ens Magellan, 86. 

Bias, Bartholomew, dis- 
covers Cape of Good 
Hope, 8; death of, 13. 

Dorado, or golden fish, 191. 

Douro, or Duero, river of 
Portugal, 5. 

Emanuel, King {see Ma- 

noel), 9. 
Emir Hoseyn, Egyptian 

admiral, 36! 
Espinosa, Gonzalo, kills 

mutineers, 146; captain 

of the Trinidad, 261; 

96 



INDEX 



shipwrecked, 277; capt- 
ured by the Portuguese, 
278. 

Faleiro, Ruy, Portuguese 
astrologer, friend of Ma- 
gellan, 63 ; plans voyage 
to Spice Islands, 65 ; 
entices Magellan to 
Spain, 67 ; convinces 
Fonseca, 73 ; becomes 
insane, 99; dies, 115. 

Filipinos, first seen by 
Spaniards, 203. 

Flores Island, 280. 

Fonseca, Bishop of Burgos, 
7 2 ; and Magellan, 74,87. 

Forward, Cape, 180, 184. 

Francesco, Dom {see Al- 
meida), 28, 29, 31. 

Gam A, Vasco da, sails 
around Africa, 6, 9-12. 

Garada, a mythical bird, 
283. 

Giant, Patagonian, 157- 
159, 161, 162; death of, 

193- 
Gilolo, King of, 269, 270, 

274. 

Goa, siege of, 46, 47. 

Golondrini, or flying -fish, 
191. 

Gomara, historian, writes 
of Magellan, 74, 75. 

Gomez, Estavao, Portu- 
guese pilot, 178; deserts 
Magellan, 182. 

Guam, island of, discover- 
ed, 200; natives of, 200, 
201. 

Guanaco, the, first seen, 
160. 



Hale, the Rev. E. E., 
foot-note on the Philip- 
pines, 216. 

Haro, Christopher de, as- 
sists Magellan, 98. 

Henry, Prince, the Navi- 
gator, 9, 18. 

Homen, Joao, Portuguese 
captain, 19, 20. 

Island of the Moon, the 
(Madagascar), 31. 

JoAO,King, of Portugal, 8,9. 
John the Perfect, King, 8, 
9, 10. 

Ladrone Islands, 197 et 
seq. 

Leonor, Queen, of Portu- 
gal, 8. 

Leonora, Spanish princess, 
78; married to Dom 
Manoel, 79. 

Leyte, island of, 215. 

Limasaua, island of, 215. 

Llama, the Peruvian, 160. 

Lorosa, Portuguese ad- 
venturer, 271. 

Lorriaga, Juan de, 143. 

Lourenzo, Dom, 28; bra- 
very of, 33, 34. 

Luzon, island of, 256. 



M ACT an, island of, 235 ; ex- 
pedition against, 236- 
240. 

Madagascar, discovery of, 

31- 

Magalhaes, Portuguese of 
Magellan, 3, 4. 

Magellan, Feman, or Fer- 
dinand, birthplace of, i ; 
297 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 



a mountaineer, 3 ; coat- 
of-arms, 3; parentage, 4; 
personal appearance, 7 ; 
page at court, 8; educa- 
tion and training, 1 1 ; as 
a courtier, 13; soldier in 
India, 15, 18; first fight, 
21; will and testament, 
22-24; second fight, 25; 
off the Malabar coast, 
29; third battle, 33, 34; 
wounded, 35; a second 
time, 38; under Albu- 
querque, 29; prevents a 
massacre, 41; rescues a 
friend, 42; captain of a 
ship and wrecked, 44; 
assists in storming Ma- 
lacca, 49; sails for Spice 
Islands, 49 ; friendship 
with Serrao, 52; returns 
to Portugal, 53 ; with 
army in Africa, 54; third 
time wounded, 56; re- 
buked by the king, 57, 
59; expatriated, chap, 
v.; friendship with Fa- 
leiro, 63 ; arrives in Spain 
68; married to Beatrix 
Barbosa, 69 ; received 
by King Charles, 72; 
meets Fonseca, 7 2 ; con- 
tracts with the king, 7 7 ; 
furnished with a fleet, 
84 ; a knight of Santiago, 
85; attacked by an 
assassin, 87; mobbed in 
Seville, 89; life sought by 
Dom Manoel, 91; coat- 
of-arms effaced, 93 ; be- 
gins voyage, 109; threat- 
ened with death, 121; 
sights land in South 



America, 126; places 
Cartagena in irons, 128; 
his humanity, 134; ar- 
rives at Rio de la Plata, 
136; on coast of Pata- 
gonia, 140; confronted 
with a mutiny, 143-147; 
which he quells, 150; ex- 
ecutes mutineers, 151; 
maroons Cartagena and 
a priest, 152; loses the 
Santiago by shipwreck, 
155; meets with Pata- 
gonians, 157; and names 
them, 161; explores in 
Patagonia, 165, 166; in 
skirmish with savages, 
168; enters strait later 
called the Magellan, 171 ; 
which he explores, 175; 
deserted by the San An- 
tonio, 180; names Tierra 
del Fuego, 186; first 
sees the Pacific, 186; be- 
gins trans-Pacific voy- 
age, 187; gives the great 
ocean its name, 188; on 
verge of starvation, 194; 
discovers the Ladrones, 
197; and Guam, 200- 
202; discovers Philip- 
pines, 203; visits native 
king, 205, 208; raises a 
cross, 2 1 1-2 14; enter- 
tained by King of Cebu, 
217-219; " converts ' ' 
natives, 221, 227; in- 
vades Mactan, 236-240; 
is defeated, 240; killed 
by natives of Mactan, 
241; monument to, 243. 
Magellan, Isabel, Fernan's 
sister, 5. 

98 



INDEX 



Magellan, Martin, 293. 

Magellan, Pedro, Fernan's 
father, 4. 

Magellan, Rodrigo, Fer- 
nan's only son, iii. 

Magellan, Strait of, dis- 
covered, 171; explored, 

175. 178. 

Magellan, Teresa, Feman s 
sister, 5, 23. 

Magellanic clouds, 243. 

Malabar coast, Magellan on 
the, 29. 

Malacca, capture of, 49. 

Manoel, Dom, King of 
Portugal, 9 ; accession 
to throne, 10; Magel- 
lan's patron, 11; neg- 
lects Magellan, 57, 66; 
marries Princess Leono- 
ra, 80; seeks life of Ma- 
gellan, 91; erases his 
escutcheon, 93 ; sends 
ships to intercept him, 
108. 

Matienzo, Sancho, rescues 
Magellan, 90. 

Mazaba, island of, 204; 
King of, 204-208. 

Mazana, island of, 215; 
King of, 218, 222. 

Megapodes, or mound birds, 
217. 

Melinda, port of, 26. 

Mendoza, Luis de, captain 
of the Victoria, 116; 
faithless to Magellan, 
143, 144; killed by Es- 
pinosa, 146. 

Meneses, Dom Joao de, 56. 

Meneses, Don Tristan de, 
271. 

Mesquita, Alvaro de, vic- 
2 



tim of mutiny, 143, 182; 
tortured and imprisoned, 
292. 

Mindanao Island, 209, 210, 
255, 262. 

Mindoro Island, 256. 

Moluccas, first news of, 
253? 257; arrival of 
Spaniards at, 266; de- 
parture from, 276. 

Mombaza, African port of, 
25, 26. 

Monte Cristo (Mount of 
Christ), 157. 

Moradia, or stipend, 52, 58. 

Moros, or Mahometans, 
212. 

Mutiny on board ships, 
143-147- 

Nahodabeguea, Malaccan 

king, 48. 
Negritos, the, 256. 

Ombay, island and natives, 

280, 282. 
Oporto, Portugal, 5, 6. 

Pacific Ocean, when dis- 
covered, 172; when 
named and first trav- 
ersed by Europeans, 
188. 

Palawan Island, 255; na- 
tives of, 256. 

" Patagones," the, 161. 

Patagonia, on coast of, 
140; giants of , 157; first 
described, 159. 

Pereira, Captain, 33-35, 
38. 

Philippines, discovery of, 
chap. xiii. 

99 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 



Pigafetta, Antonio, histo- 
rian of Magellan's voy- 
age, 189, 190; conclu- 
sion of his narrative, 
death, 293. 

Portuguese in Magellan's 
fleet, 113, 117. 

QuESADA, Gaspar, captain 
of the Concepcion, 116; 
mutinies, 143; court- 
martialed, 150; behead- 
ed and quartered, 151. 

Quiloa, Arabs of, 21, 25. 

Quinta de Souta, 23, 93. 

Quintalada, definition of 
term, 268. 

Raia, or rajah, 210. 
Ribeiro, Diego, cartogra- 
pher, 106. 
Rio de la Plata, the, 136, 

137, 139- 
Rio Janeiro, harbor of, 130. 
River of January, entered 

by Magellan, 130. 
River of Silver (Rio de la 

Plata), 136, 137. 
Rodrigo Rebello, Portuguese 

war-ship, 33, 
" Rope-and-knife," power 

of, given Magellan, 151. 

SABAROSA,Magellan'sbirth- 
place, I, 2, 5, 23, 53. 

San Antonio, ship of Magel- 
lan's fleet, 84, 116; mu- 
tiny on, 143, 144; re- 
captured by stratagem, 
148-150; second mutiny 
on, 152; taken by muti- 
neers to Spain, 182, 255. 

Sanchez, Pedro, mutinies. 



150; marooned with Car- 
tagena, 150, 169. 

Santiago, ship of Magel- 
lan's fleet, 84, 116, 144, 
145, 147; wrecked on 
coast of Patagonia, 155. 

Sardines, River of, 180, 
184. 

St. Elmo's fire, 126. 

St. Julian, Patagonia, har- 
bor of, 140, 157. 

Sea-wolves seen by Magel- 
lan, 139. 

Sequeira, Captain, 40-42. 

Serrao, Francisco, Portu- 
guese captain, 40, 41; 
rescued by Magellan, 42 ; 
adventures of, 49, 50-52; 
writes of Spice Islands, 
74; murdered in Moluc- 
cas, 264; Magellan's debt 
to, 265. 

Serrao, Joao, captain of 
the Santiago, 116; loses 
ship, 155; killed in Cebu, 
250; life-sketch of, 252. 

Setebos, Patagonian deity 
or demon, 166; men- 
tioned by Shakespeare, 
167. 

Ships of Magellan's fleet, 
84; their crews, 104; 
captains, 116; equip- 
ment, 117; cargoes, 118; 
sailing orders for, 119, 
120. 

Silva, Joao da, Magellan's 
brother-in-law, 23. 

Solis, Juan de, death of, 
136. 

Souta the quinta de, 23. 

Spice Islands, route to, 
planned, 61; wealth of, 



300 



INDEX 



74; Spaniards at, 266; 
departure from, 276; first 
voyage from, to Spain, 
285. 
Strait of Magellan, dis- 
covered, 171; first on 
maps, 173; explored, 

175. 178. 
Sulu, archipelago of, 262; 
sea of, 265; Sultan of, 
263. 

Telles, F. da Silva, grand- 
nephew of Magellan, 94. 

Temate Island, 263; King 
of, 264; spices of, 267. 

Tidor Island, 263; King of, 
264, 266, 270, 272, 274; 
spices of, 267. 

Tierra del Fuego, first so 
named, 186. 

Timor Island, 280, 282. 

Torre do Tombo, letter 
found in the, 80-83. 

Traz - OS - Montes, Portu- 
guese province, i, 5, 93, 
94. 

Trinidad, Magellan's flag- 



ship, 84, 116, 144, 147; 
in Spice Islands, 275; 
disabled, 277; captured 
by Portuguese, 278. 

Vasco Nunez de Balboa 

and Magellan, 172. 
Vasconcellos, Ferdinand, 

Victoria, ship of Magellan's 
fleet, 84 ; made first voy- 
age round the world, 
116; in Spice Islands, 
275, 276; her great voy- 
age, chap, xviii.; de- 
scription of, 279; arrives 
in Spain, 289; cargo of, 
291. 

XuLLA Island, 280. 

Zamboanga, promontory 

of, 255. 
Zamorim of Calicut, the, 

31. 32, 35- 
Zebu (see Cebu), 216. 
Zula, chieftain of Mactan, 

235- 



THE END 



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